The Last Straw
by Nigelcat1
Summary: Starts out like some of my other stories but only to establish the background, then new ideas are written. Voldemort receives a midnight visitor who offers him everything he wanted in regard to his rebellion with him hardly having to do anything. All he was to do is kill Dumbledore.
1. Chapter 1 - No More

THE LAST STRAW

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 1 – No More

Harry Potter hated his life. If he hadn't hated it before (and he did) he definitely did now. It was now his fifth year at Hogwarts and he had just finished yet another detention with UmBitch the Ministry toady from hell where yet again he had been forced to write lines with an illegal blood quill. It was evident that the hideous excuse for a woman got off on torturing children, especially when one of those children was named Harry Potter.

And of course, there was nothing he could do about it. But then, there was nothing he could ever do about ANYTHING IN HIS LIFE THANKS TO THE MANIPULATIONS OF OTHERS.

As he painfully walked back to Gryffindor Tower, he once again he did a mental recap of run his life throw his mind.

Parents killed by evil Dark Lord after Peter, a "best friend" betrayed them and then framed their other mutually best friend, Sirius, who was sent to Azkaban for life without a trial.

Best friend Sirius _**should have been the guardian**_ of the now orphaned Harry but instead he went off in search of revenge, letting the orphaned, traumatized baby with the bleeding, gaping untreated wound on his little forehead be taken off by another friend on orders of the Headmaster of their former school, who had no legal right to order such a thing and for Sirius to "obey" those orders. But he did and ended up in the worst hell hole in probably the history of the Magical World if not the Muggle world also.

Speaking of Sirius, his idiot godfather had the power to escape Azkaban the entire time he was there, but instead chose to languish in that awful place for 12 years before reading a random newspaper article and THEN DECIDED TO ESCAPE, but not because he should have escaped long before this time to find and take care of the godson who he had pledged on his magic to take care of.

No, he decided to finally escape because the newspaper gave him a clue as to where former best friend Peter had been hiding all those years and he escaped **to enact his long denied** _**revenge**_. He tried saying it was to protect Harry, but from the way he went about it, nah it was to finally get revenge. Revenge for James, not for Lily who had also been killed and not for Harry who had been left an orphan, but revenge for James dying. Go figure (and think naughty thoughts).

The main thing Sirius' escape accomplished was to put fear in Magical Britain because he escaped and for that truly idiotic Minister of Magic Fudge to place 100 Dementors, one of the foulest creatures in the entire world of magic, to be used as a large search party for the wizard. Yes just what was needed at a school full of basically helpless children – 100 horrible creatures nearly impossible to control or defend against with free rein to keep looking for an insane prisoner who if he had any common sense (but this was Sirius Black so no he didn't have any common sense) wouldn't go near that school.

But that was what the Minister of Magic did and it didn't do anything except scare the hell out of the children, make many of them physically and mentally sick and nearly got Harry Potter worse than killed several times. As fate would have it, Harry ended up not only meeting his godfather but saving him from the 100 Dementors and getting the kiss of death when he was caught by the Ministry.

However, with the help of Hermione Granger, Sirius was saved, and then flew off to safety (thanks to two school kids) after asking a desperate boy if he wanted to live with him and the boy immediately saying yes without hesitation. Now that should have been a warning sign to the biggest doofus in the world that a boy, who until a few hours before thought Sirius was a mass murder, who had betrayed his parents, helped to make him an orphan and was only at the school to kill the kid that something might be seriously wrong with the kid's home life. But it hadn't and it didn't matter anyway because Sirius promised a lot and never came through.

Thanks to mostly to Peter, Sirius and most especially Dumbledore (with Voldemort only helping a little bit by killing Harry's parents), Harry was then dropped off in the middle of a cold November night, without having any medical treatment on the doorstep of his only living relatives. The baby was wrapped in a blanket, stuffed in a basket with only a letter of explanation basically saying "your sister and husband killed by murdering manic, here's the kid you take care of him whether you want to or not.

The fact that said relatives hated magic and might resent finding any baby on their doorstep early one morning instead of their milk order let alone THIS PARTICULAR MAGICAL BABY, apparently didn't bother Albus Dumbledore. He was use to giving orders, having them obey without question and the feelings of others or the interruption of their lives meant nothing to him.

So Harry Potter's life had been made a living hell until he was finally informed about Hogwarts. Then it was only made a living hell during his summer holidays.

Then began Harry's Hogwarts career. It began all wrong as it should have been the "great wizard himself" introducing Harry to his real world, especially since Dumbledore had himself illegally appointed Harry's magical guardian to "protect him" from those who wished him wrong and to control his life.

Had he been too busy, then McGonagall, Flitwick or Sprout should have retrieved the boy as they were in charge of introducing Muggleborns or Muggle raised magicals. Harry would have learned at least some of the things which he should have learned if only what extra books he should buy to help him adjust.

But Hagrid the groundskeeper had fetched him, confused the boy, exposed him unnecessarily to a mob of fans and well-wishers and with the exception of taking him to Diagon Alley in the first place and buying him his owl Hedwig, he had done nothing but unintentionally harmed him and sabotaged his entry into the Magical World.

Not that Hagrid would purposely do it, but no he too had been used by Albus Dumbledore and it had been part of his mission (unknown by the lovable half giant) to praise Dumbledore to the hilt, indoctrinate him into distrusting if not hating Slytherins, informing him that _**he just had to be a Gryffindor**_ , because his parents were, Dumbledore was, it was the only possible place for the Boy-Who-Live, and not telling him how to find Platform 9 ¾.

Which left Harry opened up to being "found" by the Weasleys who Harry had realized in his first year were a complete set up. By his fifth year he realized that ALL THE WEASLEYS were nothing but lackeys of Dumbledore dedicated to keeping Harry…well keeping him isolated, urging him to goof off, not study or rather not doing better than Ron his "first friend" and official "best mate."

Yes Ron Weasley Harry's "best mate" was in reality, his keeper. Keep him isolated and from making friends with anybody else (even his other roommates) especially from the other houses. Keep him from finding out things he should know about and needed to know, at least from a Pureblood and/or Magical World perspective, keep him from studying and doing well in his courses and basically to just squeak by so as not to outshine Ron and "make him feel inferior" and thus threaten their friendship.

Yep, Ron was a "keeper" all right as Harry found himself "keeping" Ron around and staying his friend when most of the times he didn't know why he put up with the obnoxious git. Every time he was managing not to be react to Malfoy's taunts, Ron reacted for him and a fight started. Every time he was trying to avoid getting into trouble, there was Ron, goading him into it, or starting the trouble and then Harry had to defend him resulting with Harry getting into more trouble than Ron.

He knew what Ron had been doing to him for the past four years, talking behind his back, telling of their secret adventures and always building up his own part in the adventure, again behind Harry's back. And was Ron _**JEALOUS!**_ Jealous, hot-tempered, lazy, bigoted, a braggart, a slob, ill-mannered, obnoxious, rude – and those were his good points.

Then there were the "adventures" or "Dumbledore's tests" which Harry had to endure. First year could have been a fluke but second year? Nope, Dumbles had to know about the basilisk, plain and simple. Third year he knew about Sirius. Fourth year, well fourth year Dumbledore could have gotten him out of the tournament, could have stopped the abuse, torment, the lies, the libelous newspaper articles. Hell bells, he could have prevented EVERYTHING from happening but didn't. He had to know Mad Eye Moody was an imposter, but he just let things happen. Apparently he wanted Voldemort to come back.

Harry didn't even want to remember his summer. Between being isolated, abused by the Dursleys, not receiving counseling or a kind word or help in dealing with Cedric's death and Voldie's resurrection, and then his "friends" ignoring him because Dumbledore told them not to contact him. Then the Dementors incident and the trial before the entire Wizengamot! No it was all too fresh and too insulting and hurtful.

And Sirius! Sirius was acting like an immature…Marauder. He didn't want to think about how Sirius had let him down. All the "help" Sirius had given him was to tell him about his jolly times and pranks he and James – oh and Remus and Wormtail, too – played. The girls they got, the players they had been and why wasn't Harry following in his father's footsteps in the pranking and girl-getting area?

Nope, after this summer Harry had officially written Sirius off as anything other than a big kid who never grew up and never would. He was all talk, all bluster and damn it, he kept calling Harry James. It seemed that he wanted Harry to be James reincarnated. He didn't want to be the adult figure in Harry's life, he wanted his favorite playmate back.

No, Harry hated his life and as he trudged back to Gryffindor Tower, his hand in pain, his mind exhausted, his future bleak, several of his homework assignments not done because of his detentions, he thought about his ball and chain - Hermione.

Yes Hermione. His "female best mate." She didn't abandon him last year when so many had, especially Ron, and she did help him. She also nagged the hell out of him but then she had been doing that for the last four years and probably would for the rest of his life.

Ah yes, Hermione Granger. He hadn't completely figured her out yet. He knew that she was a socially inept girl, one of the very few girls her age who didn't care about her looks. How could the only child of dentists come to Hogwarts needing dental services? Didn't they have a professional reputation to uphold? Her teeth had been fixed due to a mean spell cast by Malfoy which Madame Pomfrey had fixed and Hermione had taken advantaged of to finally get her teeth corrected. She now had a lovely smile and it had improved her looks greatly.

Her hair was still a mess, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a decent haircut and a little more care as even Harry, being a boy and therefore clueless, had heard the term "make-over." Okay he read about the term from the women's magazines his aunt was a slave to. But the magazines showed before and after pictures with easy instructions and tips on how to choose a hair stylist who could help you with a "new look" and other such girlie things.

Harry had read these girly mags because he had to take out the trash and sometimes he just wanted something to read to take his mind off of things. There was nothing like an inane female fashion magazine to give a guy a good laugh. Besides, he needed to figure out girls in the hopes that he would someday be able to get a real girlfriend and not just stalked by crazed fan girls like Ginny Weasley.

Hermione had cleaned up to go to the ball last year, but then she was going with Victor Krum so she had to make an impression. She had looked awesome, therefore IT COULD BE DONE. So why wasn't she still at least "trying" as looking like a geek only left her open to more insults and attacks from the likes of Malfoy and other girls.

Just because Harry played at being stupid didn't mean he was. He did have brains and knew how to use them otherwise he would never have survived the Dursleys. It was better to have your enemies underestimate you.

He only got average marks at Hogwarts mostly because of Ron and even Hermione at times. Ron's job was to make sure Harry goofed off and couldn't study or do well. Hermione ALWAYS corrected Harry's homework and he wasn't allowed to turn it in until she checked it over. Even if he waited until the last minute to do it (like Ron) she checked Harry's homework and made him rewrite it according to her "suggestions" but strangely she never made Ron rewrite his no matter how poorly done it was.

At times, just to test a theory, Harry "slipped up" and wrote a decent essay in a precise, informative and a scholarly way. He knew how to write properly because he had to do Dudley's homework for him (and not his own) because Dudley was lazy and stupid and would have flunked if Harry hadn't done his work for him. All their teachers knew it was Harry's writing but ignored it probably because Vernon was friends with the Headmaster of their primary and slipped a bribe or two in as well.

Whenever Harry did his homework extremely well, Hermione "corrected it" by dumbing it down so that Harry would only receive an average grade. Whether it was done because Dumbledore ordered it or jealousy on Hermione's part, it showed that she was controlling his grades. Like it had been at the Dursleys, at Hogwarts Harry would never be allowed to do better than average – except in Quidditch as that benefitted Gryffindor more than it did Harry.

Because he had detention with Umbridge Harry had to do his homework before he went to serve it. He had to hand it over to Hermione who would have it ready for him to do the corrections which she automatically assumed he would need to do. What had been really infuriating Harry was the fact that Hermione knew he would be in pain and bleeding and it would be late when he returned from his punishment, yet she ALWAYS made corrections in red ink necessitating that Harry had to rewrite his essay.

It also meant that despite her treating him with murtlap, the late hour, the pain, exhaustion and being forced to listen to her latest chastisement, he still had to rewrite all his homework despite his pain before he went to bed because for some reason his alarm spells never worked (even though he knew he did them correctly) Ron couldn't be trusted to wake him in time to get him up for breakfast let alone do morning homework.

 _Everything_ was pointing to both Ron and Hermione sabotaging him. But why? He had more than enough misery in his life between the Ministry attacks, the _Prophet_ turning the public against him, most of the student body, including his own dorm mates like Seamus and others, calling him a liar and verbally and physically attacking him, the Hufflepuffs accusing him of murdering Cedric, the Slytherins tripling their usual torment, Snape being even worse than usual, Dumbledore ignoring him, and his own Head of House refusing to listen to him and telling him to keep his head down.

Umbridge had been sent by the Ministry with the clear purpose of ruining Dumbledore and most especially Harry. Dumbledore just sat around acting like there was nothing he could do about the situation but that was a bunch of dragon dung. Dumbledore always had everything under control and was letting everything the Ministry was doing to Hogwarts and Harry just to happen.

Harry knew Dumbledore better than most people did. Although Dumbledore was seen to be attacked also, he really wasn't. It was all an act so that Fudge would think he was hurting Dumbledore when he really wasn't. According to a secret source of Harry's, Dumbledore couldn't be removed from his place on the Wizengamot on the flimsy grounds which Fudge had used to remove Dumbledore. Ergo, it was all a ruse and part of one of Dumbledore's Machiavellian plans. As usual, it would serve to cause Harry pain as well as being one of those annual tests which Dumbledore so delighted in, which also caused Harry hurt and pain.

Harry was almost back to Gryffindor Tower when he said to himself "No. Not again. Never again. Screw them all _**THIS IS THE LAST STRAW**_!" He walked away from all portraits and then cast a notice-me-not charm on himself. He then hurried away from where he was going and went instead to a secret passageway which was not listed on the Marauders' Map.

That night he went missing. He simply disappeared from Hogwarts and would not be seen again at least by those who wanted him, needed him, meant him harm and thoroughly controlled him. The pawn had fled never to be controlled by anyone ever again.


	2. Chapter 2 - Hit List

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 2 – Hit List

Harry Potter had disappeared and had not been found. Dumbledore had merely snuck out to attend an Order of the Phoenix meeting he had called and when he returned he had just gone directly to his bedroom and went to sleep. Therefore, it wasn't until the next morning walking through his office in daylight that he noticed several things.

All the portraits were in the sleep mode. Nothing new about that as it was early morning and they were only awake when something interesting was going on. Then Fawkes was missing, but the bird could have just gone out for a bit of exercise. But it was silent, too silent and that was when he turned and looked at the various places where certain important items were usually humming away, twinkling softly and most importantly WORKING.

All the magical items tracking and monitoring Harry Potter were gone. Every single one!

Then he looked up to question the Sorting Hat – which was not sitting on its usual shelf.

Had he been any other wizard he might have panicked but he was the Great Albus Dumbledore so he merely called for his personal elf. "Frisbee, go check on Harry Potter. I want to know where he is and what he is doing and I want it done immediately."

Dumbledore then woke up the portraits, questioned them while making a search of his office to see if anything else was missing. The moments ticked by and Dumbledore started getting annoyed. He had expected his elf to return almost immediately but it had not. He was just about to call for the elf when the creature popped into the room.

"Headmaster, Headmaster, Harry Potter is gone, is missing, is nowhere in the school. Frisbee even gets that crazy elf Dobby to look for Harry Potter and crazy Dobby can't find. Frisbee is sending all available elves to look through school and school grounds, but boy is nowhere."

"Well double your efforts and find the boy. Also have Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger come to my office now."

The two Gryffindors arrived ten minutes later. When questioned all they could say was that Hermione had been waiting for Harry to come back from his detention with Umbridge. "I stayed awake to about midnight and there was no sign of him, I then went to wake Ron so we could go look for him."

"Yeah but Harry has been carrying the cloak and the map on his person so we couldn't do it. Without those two things we'd get caught and I don't want to get a detention from Snape or Umbridge," declared a surly Ron.

Dumbledore knew exactly what went on in Umbridge's detentions as Hermione told him the first time Harry had come back with a bloody hand. Dumbledore had no intention of stopping the abuse whether it was Harry or even another one of his own Gryffindors being tortured. From what Dumbledore had heard, it was only Harry and Mudbloods being treated that way so there was no harm done, especially where Potter was concerned.

Dumbledore had every reason to believe that the main reason Umbridge was "teaching" at the school was to keep an eye on Harry Potter and torture the boy. Dumbledore knew that it was probably Umbridge who had sent the Dementors to Surrey to "solve the Potter problem" and when that failed, to bring the boy to trial in front of the entire Wizengamot with the intention of getting him expelled from Hogwarts and his wand snapped.

And how did Dumbledore know about this you ask? Because he had arranged for it all to happen. He had had Cornelius Fudge under an Imperius the entire time he was Minister. Lucius Malfoy thought he was the one controlling Fudge with his methods of persuasion (bribery) and his personal influence (more bribery). But no, it was Dumbledore who was pulling all of Fudge's strings.

He had even ordered Fudge to get him "kicked out" of his various important political positions, but in reality Dumbledore had things under control in that respect. Yes, he could get back his positions anytime he wanted but was pretending he was being harassed and ruined by Fudge so that Voldemort would be led into a false sense of security. Eventually, when Albus thought the time was right, Voldemort would be exposed to the public and then Dumbledore would sweep back in, reveal Fudge to be a fool, immediately get back his exalted positions and come back more beloved and more powerful than before.

Dumbledore always had everything carefully planned and under control and this would be no exception. Potter would be found and given over to be suitably punished by Umbridge and be totally broken by Christmas time.

However, two weeks later things in Britain were still in an uproar. Potter was still missing and neither Voldemort nor Dumbledore had any idea where he was. The Goblins swore that neither Potter nor anyone acting on his behalf had come into the bank to get money. However, due to the publicity of the Boy-Who-Lived's disappearance the Goblins had taken the liberty of freezing the boy's trust vault so that not even Dumbledore, acting as the boy's magical guardian, could withdraw funds.

"If and when someone tries to get funds from the boy's trust vault, we will immediately seize him, her or it until such time as the Ministry can take the creature into custody," the Goblins had sworn.

That made sense to everyone except Dumbledore who was used to drawing funds out monthly for the boy's "upkeep and care" and since the boy was missing the Goblins took this step because, well the boy was missing and presumed to be in dire peril and thus being kept up or cared for in the manner that the trust provided for. Since Harry Potter had started at Hogwarts the Goblins had been questioning Dumbledore's monthly withdrawal since the boy's entire seven years tuition had been paid for at the boy's birth and why should the boy's Muggle relatives be paid money for his upkeep and care during the almost ten months he was living at Hogwarts?

Dumbledore was furious that the boy had disappeared and even he couldn't find him. It had to be an inside job as someone knew that if the trackers and monitors were destroyed, Potter couldn't be found. Potter had mysteriously and completely disappeared the same night that Dumbledore was out of the castle attending an Order meeting. That was the same night the trackers and monitors were destroyed.

Only a few carefully chosen, faithful followers knew about the trinkets Dumbledore had to track and control Potter, so who had been the one to betray him? And how was also the big question, as those faithful few were all under strict magical oaths not to reveal the existence of the items nor could they destroy those items due to the oaths. Also, most of the few didn't know the extent of what those items did or how many there actually were.

Potter had no idea such items existed and even if he had, there was no way he could have destroyed them. And where the hell was Fawkes? He needed Fawkes to find Potter. Potter had his wand on his person when he had disappeared and as long as he carried the wand containing a feather from Fawkes, Fawkes could find him and bring him directly to Dumbledore.

Umbridge was in her glee. Fudge had given her free rein to destroy Potter, take over the school and discredit Dumbledore and with the boy gone she had all that she needed to surprise Dumbledore. Delores knew something that the greatest wizard since Merlin didn't know and it would be his downfall.

You see "someone" had discovered the Imperius which Dumbledore had placed on Fudge and removed it and then replaced it with their own. Once Dumbledore decided the boy was truly lost, he would naturally change plans and give Fudge new orders, probably resulting in Umbridge being called back from her job at Hogwarts to assist dear Cornelius at the Ministry. The boy would be accused of murdering Cedric Diggory and had run away when he had been tipped off that he was going to be exposed and arrested, legally tried before the Wizengamot and sent to Azkaban for life.

Since the boy had been stupid enough to escape him, Dumbledore would allow this to happen and if Potter didn't turn himself into Dumbledore's protection, then Dumbledore would let the Ministry have him. A year or two in Azkaban would teach the boy a much needed lesson in humility and the fact that only Dumbledore "could save him" from the dangers of this world or at least until Dumbledore sent him off to fulfill his destiny.

The accusation had been made and printed in all the news media but Delores Umbridge was still at Hogwarts and would remain there until her job was complete. It was time for Dumbledore to pay Fudge a visit and give him new orders.

Imagine the great wizard's shock when Fudge turned the tables on him and had him arrested and imprisoned, citing that he was going to be tried as an enemy of the state. Fudge had "known all along" that Potter was just a pawn in Dumbledore's plans to take over the Ministry and thus Magical Britain. He would then set up a dictatorship, kill off his enemies and make Britain his own. From there it would be a small step to world conquest and he would soon be outdoing Grindelwald and Voldemort.

So Dumbledore was relieved of his wand and placed in a well-guarded Ministry cell. Fortunately for Dumbledore, two Order members, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones, had guard duty that night and had arranged for Dumbledore's rescue by Order members. At the last minute Dumbledore managed to get the Elder Wand back from the Auror who disarmed him, satisfying the ritual of obtaining the great wand and thus becoming the rightful owner again. He had almost been caught but it had to be done and as usual he would not give his followers any reason other than it was for the Greater Good.

The next day all headlines screamed about Dumbledore's arrest, escape and the reward being offered for his capture. Delores Umbridge was appointed Headmistress and given the power to do anything she needed to do to "Protect the children of Magical Britain as well as giving them the education they needed."

Naturally all hell broke loose. The first thing she did was to round up all Muggleborn students. They were brought to the Great Hall to a mandatory assembly. They were all accused of stealing magic from Pureblood children causing them to become Squibs. How these non-magical persons managed to do this fiendish act she didn't say, only that somehow they did and while she was Headmistress and the Noble and Great Cornelius Fudge was Minister of Magic, they would not get away with it.

Therefore, all Muggleborns were stripped of their wands and they were snapped in front of the entire school (much to the applause and cheers of Slytherin House and many other Purebloods from Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff).

Then since an example had to be made, a troop of Aurors marched into the Great Hall with Cornelius Fudge at the head. He then pronounced sentence on them. All Muggleborns who had been attending Hogwarts and besmirching its hallowed halls were being taken to Azkaban to serve a life term for stealing magic.

Many of them, such as Hermione Granger, fainted. Again Slytherin House went hysterical with joy, applause and cheering was heard and photographers from the _Daily Prophet_ took photograph after photograph.

Fudge then announced that thorough investigations would start immediately and warned that traitorous actions would no longer be tolerated and that Half-bloods and blood traitor Purebloods were going to be carefully watched and at the slightest hint of misbehavior or treachery, they too would be expelled "Umbridge style" – the term he gave for "Umbridge's decisive and noble action."

More photographs were taken of Fudge, Umbridge and the Mudbloods being led away to their just desserts. Rita Skeeter had snagged the right to an exclusive interview with Fudge since he admired her writing style. Other reporters (with the notable exception of Xeno Lovegood who had not been invited) mingled with the remaining students getting interviews with "only the best students" such as everybody in Slytherin unless they were a filthy Half-blood like Millicent Bulstrode or Tracey Davis.

Not only was Magical Britain shocked but Continental Europe woke up to the reality of the situation. Had Voldemort really returned as Harry Potter said? Or was Dumbledore guilty of doing exactly what Fudge had accused him of doing?

It was a well-known secret that Dumbledore had his own views as just how the Magical World should be run, namely according to his ideals and agendas. Despite defeating Grindelwald, he had made many enemies over the years because he made no secret of how he wanted the world to become. Since he was the (self-proclaimed) Leader of the Light, he wanted –no demanded – that dark magic should be abolished. Of course, he was the final arbitrator regarding what magic was considered dark or light and only light magic would be allowed.

Only his home country had he been successful but only then up to a certain point. Once he became Headmaster of Hogwarts he controlled what was taught at HIS SCHOOL and what future generations would know. It was said by those who really knew the true circumstances that if Albus Dumbledore had his way, 75% of known magic would be classified as dark and thus only those meeting the requirements and approval of Albus Dumbledore would be allowed or even taught any of that magic.

Nope only Aurors, certain "trustworthy wizards" and, of course, Albus Dumbledore would know about the existence of that magic and could only use it under dire circumstances and then only with the permission of Albus Dumbledore.

A new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards was elected. Hans Schwartz was one of Albus Dumbledore's severest critics and he was determined to see that Dumbledore never regained any power outside of Britain if he was found innocent of Fudge's accusations or, in the alternative, succeeded in usurping Fudge and taking over the British Magical government.

For the moment the ICW was watching and waiting to see how things played out in Britain as was the rest of the Magical World such as the Americas, the Pacific and Asian countries and Africa and the Middle East.

After his rescue Dumbledore had fled to the safety of the Order Headquarters at Grimmauld Place. A meeting was called and all members with the exception of McGonagall and Snape were present. They were being too closely watched at Hogwarts to leave the premises. Until one or both escaped they would be the eyes and ears of Dumbledore and the Order.

Dumbledore really needed Snape to report to him. The last time Snape had been summoned to Voldemort's presence it was when the news of Potter's disappearance leaked out. According to Snape Voldemort did not have Harry Potter and wanted constant updates regarding the boy. Snape had been warned that if he was spying or lying to Voldemort concerning the boy's whereabouts that not only would Snape rue the day he was born but also his parents, grandparents, great grandparents' births.

He had not received a summons since then and considering Fudge's coup, it was not only Dumbledore's opinion that Voldemort had been responsible for all that was occurring. However, Snape was needed to verify this assumption and Sirius Black was bragging how he was personally going to interrogate Snape not only with his own Veritaserum but with the appropriate torture.

Of course it was all talk on Black's part because Dumbledore simply wouldn't allow it but for the moment he would let the mutt vent his anger and frustration because his godson was missing and it gave him something to do beside drink himself senseless.

The next day they found out about the Muggleborns all being sent to Azkaban. Tonks was very worried since her father was a Muggleborn and she rightly feared that the Ministry would soon be going after all Muggleborns. Dumbledore basically discounted her fears because, "There are simply too many Muggleborns in Britain to send them all to Azkaban and from what I hear many of them are now entrenched in the Muggle military, government and police forces. Gathering them all up for 'prosecution' would be impossible."

It didn't help the girl as she knew more about the real world and the problems Muggleborns had during and after they left Hogwarts. Any Muggleborn who had managed to remain in Magical Britain whether by marriage or connections were at risk in her opinion despite what Dumbledore said.

Only Remus Lupin was agreeing with her and worrying but he too was shot down as it became evident that most of the Order didn't care that _children_ , some as young as eleven, were now residing in Azkaban. What would happen to the Muggleborn children who were still too young for Hogwarts? However, since Dumbledore had other things on his mind the subject was dropped as not all that important at the moment.

In some ways he was correct as things would only be getting worse, especially for Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.


	3. Chapter 3 - Horror

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 3 – Horror

Azkaban had always been a place where screams and crying were constantly heard both day and night whether due to the Dementors making their rounds or the prisoners screaming out their frustrations and despair. However, since Umbridge's new form of "expulsion" was started, there were not only more screaming and crying than ever before but also shouts of outrage as even some hardcore Death Eaters protested the incarceration of children – even Mudblood children.

Azkaban had room for many prisoners and was usually half full at any given time. There were three levels of imprisonment in Azkaban. The first level was for those people who had committed minor crimes or crimes which were not deserving of the constant attention of Dementors. Mostly petty criminals, such as the likes of Mundungus Fletcher, were kept in this section.

Their sentences were under a year and even if you served a year, you might think twice about committing a crime, but sometimes risked it anyway because at least you had a place to stay and two meals a day. You had a small room with a stone bed but the bed had a mattress six inches thick, a greyish set of top and bottom sheets, a pillow with a raggedy pillowcase, and two blankets. You got a chamber pot which magically cleaned itself once a day. If you were lucky your cell might have a small window.

You received two meals, boring but filling and nutritionally enriched to keep you semi-healthy and once a week you received a cleaning (and shave if male) done by house elf magic. Every other week your bedding was changed as well as your uniform. You could have two visitors once a month and receive letters, but your mail was read by the Aurors before given to you to check for spells and secret messages. If you were a lazy lump who liked sleeping most of the day and not doing much except perhaps chatting with your neighbors, it wasn't all that bad a stay, except once a week when Dementors visited you for five or ten minutes.

The second level was similar except there was no sheets, no visitors allowed, mail was rarely received unless it was to announce a death in your family, and your cleaning was limited to once a month. Your window, if you had one was merely a hole in the wall near the ceiling but it let in light if it was day and cold if it was winter. Dementors came every day and the duration of their stay depended on several things such as your behavior, the length of your incarceration and how sadistic the Aurors were feeling.

The average sentence in this section was a maximum of five years and you did something bad like cheated on your taxes, accidentally (really) killed or severely injured someone, were caught swindling or stealing from an important person, committed minor treason like expressing your views in public, usually when drunk, and had slandered or pissed off the wrong person. There were times when some of the inmates had pissed off Dumbledore once too often and he used his influence to teach them a lesson. Sometimes they were let out early if they sincerely apologized and/or became a strong follower of the greatest wizard since Merlin. It worked the same way for the Ministry and certain powerful Purebloods (before the Voldemortic war).

The third level was the worse as this was where all the Death Eaters had been sent and other persons who committed vile crimes like real treason and intentional murders. These people, the scum of the earth, disgraces to the Wizarding World, etc. had to be punished as cruelly and harshly as possible to serve as a deterrent for their unacceptable behavior and horrendous crimes.

Basically you had a crude room craved out of the stone walls of Azkaban but with rough edges. The stone bed had a two-inch thick mattress, no sheets or pillow and two thin, raggedy blankets. You were supposed to use one of the blankets as a pillow but you'd freeze if you did. Your chamber pot was a hole in the floor and you hoped your waste made its way down the pipe otherwise the room would smell even more vile than usual. If you were lucky your cell wouldn't have the hole-in-the-wall window as you were too far down to get any sun but only a constant cold blast of air even in the summer.

You received two tasteless meals which were nutritionally enriched to keep you alive so you could suffer longer. The meal was gruel, grey in color with the consistency of wallpaper paste. If you were lucky, once or twice a year you would receive a hosing down by the Aurors if they were bored and wanted to hit you with a blast of cold water and "see you dance" to their tune. You couldn't receive mail but if an Auror was in a good mood they might inform you that your mother or father had died or your spouse ran off with a new mate.

Besides Aurors, the occasional house elf and the bi-yearly visit of Ministry personnel like the Minister of Magic the only visitors you were allowed to have were the Dementors. They would visit any time day or night (not that you could tell the time of day) without warning and stayed for as long as they wanted. You were here to suffer and suffer you would.

You might be able to talk with another prisoner in a cell near yours, but only if you had something to say or vice versa. After a year or so, most people had used up all of the polite conversation they had and nothing changed day-to-day except for an insane prisoner screaming and not stopping or thinking up a new rant to shout out which only served to annoy you. Occasionally someone died so that was good to talk about for a day or two.

The term Muggleborn was officially discarded and the "proper term" of Mudblood would be used in Britain. Level two was now the homes for all the Mudblood children in years one through three. The only exception was if one of the children had an older sibling at school with them so they were placed in the same cell. There wasn't enough room to have one prisoner to a cell so it was now two to a cell. Thus the Creevey Brothers shared the same cell and each gave the other as much comfort as they could.

Level three was where all of the other Mudbloods were placed. The Death Eaters, such as Bellatrix Lestrange, were delighted only because they could spew out all the hate and insults which they had built up during the long years of their imprisonment. It gave them a new lease on life and for the first time in years Bellatrix was happy.

Hermione Granger had been given the distinction of getting the former cell of Sirius Black. The cell was cattycorner from Bellatrix's and the Aurors had loudly announced for all to hear just who and what Hermione Granger was as well as to list her friendships and "mentors" as well as the "real reason" she was here.

For the first few days Bellatrix screamed, yelled, insulted and verbally abused the "new neighbors" almost non-stopped concentrating her wrath mostly on Hermione. Sally-Anne Perks had been assigned a cell with Hermione and although both girls tried to comfort the other between the horrible conditions, Bellatrix's non-stop ranting and the visits by the Dementors, both girls were already in a state of near collapse.

There weren't many Muggleborns in Gryffindor as its members were made up mostly of Purebloods and Half-bloods. Many of the upper years had graduated in the last two years and another had been killed in a Muggle auto accident. The Creeveys were together and three other Gryffindors were third years and under.

Dean Thomas and Hufflepuff Justin Finch-Fletchley shared the next cell down from the girls and next to them was two fourth year boys, then two sixth year girls and three seventh year boys. The odd seventh year boy, Ravenclaw Prefect Jacob Tibbley, shared a cell with a very insane non-Death Eater who was practically at death's door and was glad of the company even if they didn't speak much.

Despite being a "mere Hufflepuff" Sally-Anne was coping much better than the "brave Gryffindor" Hermione. That might have been due to Hermione knowing she was one of the "special people" and faithful follower of Albus Dumbledore. Once she had been recruited after the troll incident by Professor Dumbledore to "help him help Harry Potter" her future had been assured.

She would be protected at Hogwarts (even if poor Harry had to suffer trials and tribulations due to his "destiny") by Dumbledore himself. Her Head of House had also looked after her and protected her from the Weasleys, the only other special helpers which Dumbledore allowed to have access to Harry. The Weasleys, but especially Ron then Ginny, were jealous of her position and despite having to act friendly for appearances sake, Ron took every opportunity to belittle and in the beginning threaten and physically harmed Hermione on occasion until Dumbledore forbade it and had McGonagall keep close tabs on him.

She had been protected and kept safe from some of the things other Muggleborns or less favored students had to endure but now, Professor Dumbledore was a wanted criminal and Hermione Granger was imprisoned in Azkaban along with the other Muggleborns and exposed to insane Death Eaters.

Every day she still woke up thinking (or rather hoping) it was all a bad dream only to be reminded by Bellatrix's rants and screams that it wasn't. She still had hope that Professor Dumbledore would rescue her once he found out she was there but as each day passed, she found it harder to endure let alone hope.

Bellatrix enjoyed telling the frighten students what Death Eaters did to filth like them during the first war and promised that when "Our Lord has returned and when he rescues us then you will experience firsthand all of the things which you truly deserve."

Bellatrix would talk until her voice was raw and then demand that another Death Eater take her place. Antonin Dolohov delighted in telling exactly what he did to female filth, especially "the young ones like you" and every once in a while Dean or Justin would yell at the "sicko pervert" to stop and threaten him with the punishments Dumbledore would heap on him and his ilk. Naturally the fiend just laughed and told or invented new horrors to regale his captive audience with.

Hermione didn't know how long they had been there but it seemed like forever. Sally-Anne thought that based on a two meal a day regimen, they might have been in Azkaban for 16 days, but Hermione said she knew it had to be two months. They would find out shortly that Sally-Anne was right and Hermione was wrong but by then it wouldn't matter anymore.

It was night when they came for them. For once everyone was asleep but the clunk of boots marching down the stairs and into the hall of level three woke up everyone. The cell doors of the Mudbloods were opened and stinging hexes were thrown at them to "wake them up" while the guards started yelling at them. Bellatrix demanded to know what was going on only to be told to shut up and then a strong stinging hex was thrown at her.

The guards were unnecessarily rough on the students especially considering they were not used to standing and walking or being in the lighted hallway. They were pulled, pushed, hexed and ordered to move along quickly while being verbally abused and being told that they stunk worse than the average Mudblood filth. They were prodded up stairs and when one of them tripped they were roughly levitated onto their feet and cursed at by the guards.

When all of the students were together they were marched out into the cold November night only wearing the rough Azkaban-issued uniform. They were told nothing and when one of the seventh years asked what was happened, he was struck across the face and told to shut his "muddy mouth" or else. Finally they were led down to the pier and ordered to get on a very unseaworthy looking craft. Once they were all accounted for the chief Auror of Azkaban shook the hand of a heavily cloaked figure and Dean Thomas thought he saw a large bag of something (probably galleons) exchanging hands.

The ship took off and fought against the choppy seas while the students huddled together for warmth and comfort. Experiences were exchanged and for once many felt hopeful. Then the hooded figure entered the large room where they were sitting on the floor.

For a long moment the figure just stood there, his/her face hidden under the hood. He/her said nothing and it was making many nervous. The seventh year was about to ask a question but Hermione decided to break protocol and rank and beat him to it.

"Has Professor Dumbledore sent you to rescue us?" she asked hopefully.

The figure started laughing, saying nothing for several moments before finally saying, "No. Dumbledore doesn't give a damn about any of you. He never has and never really will unless you can be of some use to him. Not even you – Hermione Granger isn't it – not even you warrant a moment of his time."

"But he had to have sent you to rescue us," she replied.

"And what makes you think you are being rescued?"

"Well you rescued us from Azkaban."

"No, I did not 'rescue you from Azkaban' I simply bought you. The Ministry doesn't care as it has plans to put others in Azkaban and needs the room. Letting the Dementors 'kiss you' was considered but the warden decided to make a bit of money and feelers had been put out shortly after you were incarcerated."

"Then where are we going?" Dean asked.

"That's really none of your business as I own you and will do with you as I pleased. I have to make my investment back as well as making a profit. Some of you are familiar with the 'ways of this wicked, wicked world' so you can take a stab about how to make a profit on young, fairly healthy individuals between the ages of eleven and 18, can't you?"

With that scary information told, the figured turned around and left the room, banging (and locking) the door behind him while his laughter could be heard as he walked away.

It was then that Hermione Granger and others fainted while others broke down and cried. Then Tibbley took charge and tried to calm them all down.

"There are 21 of us against 'laughing boy' (referring to the hooded figure) and probably two or three crew members. They might have wands but we have numbers and the element of surprise on our side. They have to feed us eventually so all we have to do is catch them off guard – even one of them – get his wand and we'll have a chance at least to put up a fight."

"What if they don't feed us?"

"They have to because it will probably take days to get to wherever we're going and they need us reasonably healthy."

The large room was probably the common area/mess hall but the tables and chairs had been removed. A small bathroom containing three toilets and three sinks would provide water and other necessities so once people calmed down, had a bit of a wash and some water, they'd feel a lot better. So Tibbley started sending people to the bathroom in threes to tidy up as best they could. Those who fainted were revived by having their face washed and given a drink of water.

One of the second years found a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ dated a week after their incarceration. Tibbley read it out loud so that all could find out at the same time what had been happening. The news was not good but news was news and they needed information.

Fudge had given a news conference commending Umbridge for making a start to rid Hogwarts of "undesirables" and it had been such a success and so well-received, that plans were being put in place to start the purge throughout Britain. The adult Mudbloods would be questioned under Veritaserum to finally find out how they had managed to steal magic from "real Wizards and Witches" and place it into Muggles. Then after the guilty were found and severely punished the plague of Mudbloods would be ended once and for all and Britain could go back to being the magical paradise it had once been.

Besides the news conference, Fudge had allowed Ministry "experts" to be interviewed. Titus Morehouse was heading the committee formed to find out the cause of the "Squib problem" which led to the rise of Mudbloods. To hear Morehouse tell it, there had been very few Mudbloods born prior to the 1800's. Then Squibs were born and then an equal number of Mudbloods were receiving Hogwarts letters. This led the investigation committee to believe that sometime around 1800 a dark magic spell had been invented for the sole purpose of slowly but surely destroying the Magical World.

Morehouse said they had several interesting leads they were working on. It was believed that certain families had banded together with the sole intention of taking over Britain by making the birth rate of those with pure blood drop due to the production of Squibs. Then when the increasing numbers of Mudbloods entered their world, after a few generations they would outnumber the Purebloods and a new political force would begin with those fiends who had started the horror becoming the rulers over all of Britain due to the army of Mudbloods they were creating.

"Now, thanks to our noble Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge," Morehouse told the reporter, "We have finally received the proper amount of funding so that we may study the problem, find the guilty parties who are still creating Mudbloods by stealing magic and turning Purebloods into Squibs, and hopefully by the next generation there will be no Mudbloods left in Britain and all Purebloods who were thought to have been born Squibs will have their magic back."

At the end of the article Morehouse hinted that from what information they had found lately, Albus Dumbledore was the leading suspect of this genocide. "That was why he had Potter lie about the return of You-Know-Who, hoping that the funds earmarked for this study would be given to the overly funded DMLE to "fight You-Know-Who" but mercifully for our world, that idiot Potter killed Cedric Diggory – probably because the Pureblood boy was going to win the Tournament and not him – and he has now fled knowing his arrest was imminent."

"That's nothing but lies, slander and, and - Professor Dumbledore is a living saint and only has the welfare of all as his primary concern –" Hermione screamed out before Tibbley told her to shut up.

"Although this stealing of magic theory is a bunch of dragon dung, I wouldn't put anything past Dumbledore. Potter's a stupid pawn and nothing more and everybody knows it. I wouldn't put it past him to have screwed up at the last minute and accidently killed Cedric because Merlin knows…."

"Harry didn't kill Cedric, it was Peter Pettigrew who…."

"Not according to _your dear friend_ Ron _"the Backstabber"_ Weasley," Hufflepuff seventh year John Quinton said. "You of all people, Hermione _"the Tattletale"_ Granger, should know what your fellow stool pigeon is saying about his "best mate" and if you don't…well your were definitely too dumb to be a Ravenclaw and that was why you're a Gryffindor," he taunted.

Before more of an argument could break out, Tibbley called for silence. "We have to plan so that we can make a break for it. We might only have one chance to overpower our jailer when they feed us. So let me finish the articles and then let's get some sleep. We'll have to wait to see how many people come to bring us food and I suggest we eat a meal or two to lull them into a false sense of security and get some strength back before we strike."

Hermione was about to throw her two knuts in but a jab to her side with Dean Thomas' elbow and one dirty look from the fellow Gryffindor changed her mind. She needed to hear everything in the newspaper before she gave them her plan or at least that was what she told herself. She was used to 'making the plans' for the Golden Trio after initially shooting down Harry's original one and/or modifying it into her own.

Probably because he was a seventh year Prefect and a Ravenclaw, Tibbley thought he was in charge but Hermione would soon take over once her much better plans were made and told to others. There might be a fight but hopefully her fellow Gryffindors and Sally-Anne Perks, her new "friend" would back her up.

Just when Tibbley had finished reading all the pertinent news in the _Prophet_ , his "grand plan" was crushed much to Hermione's amusement, when mugs of soup, trays of sandwiches and glasses of pumpkin juice magically appeared much like the food at Hogwarts did.

Hermione was going to make a snide remark about "Tibbley's grand plan" but then Sally-Anne elbowed her in the ribs and shook her head "no" when Hermione glared at her for nudge. However, Hermione was too hungry to utter a comment and helped herself to a mug of chicken broth and a cheese and tomato sandwich.

After everyone had their fill, the plates, mugs and glassware disappeared and people started falling asleep.

Most of them slept deeply but some, like Hermione and Tibbley, stayed awake. Tibbley because he was trying to come up with a plan to help them all escape as he knew what the hooded figure meant about "the ways of this wicked, wicked world" and guessed how the hooded figure planned on making a profit with mostly children and youths. He couldn't let that happen especially to the younger years.

Hermione couldn't sleep because she had to prove (if only to herself) that Dumbledore had not abandoned them and would shortly be rescuing them all – especially her, his own protégée. There were seven Gryffindors and she was the oldest and in her mind it made her the head and spokesperson for Gryffindor. There were eight Puffs and only six Claws so, if she could win over the Puffs she could be elected as leader despite there being five students older than she.

Professor Dumbledore would expect nothing less from her. When he rescued them or she did and thus brought him 20 other "recruits" to help in his fight against the Ministry and Voldemort, she would not only go back to being one of his most faithful followers but probably receive a promotion and definitely be inducted into the Order ahead of the Twins, Ron or Ginny. That would show them!

Finally, sleep found both Tibbley and Granger and they would need it when next they woke as they, like so many others would be waking up to a nightmare.


	4. Chapter 4 - Escalation

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 4 – Escalation

The students were awaken to the sounds of breakfast arriving. Breakfast sandwiches of bacon, egg and cheese and egg and cheese appeared along with bowls of apples and bananas. Pots of tea and coffee with sides of cream and sugar and pitchers of milk completed the breakfast. There was plenty for all to eat and several vials of potions. A note was addressed to Tibbley telling him to make sure that each student drank the two different nutrient potions.

The note also named him as the person responsible for the students "despite what Hermione Granger thinks" which made many laugh when he read it out loud. Naturally Hermione grabbed the note from his hand to read it herself.

The students were well advanced in eating their breakfast when Sally-Anne shouted "Hey, my clothes, their fresh and I feel like I've been cleaned up. Other students then realized that they too were wearing fresh but very plain clothes and must have at least been scourified while they slept.

After breakfast was finished and bathroom breaks done, several copies of the _Daily Prophet_ appeared with a note attached to the pile. The pile appeared directly on Tibbley's lap so Hermione didn't have the chance to grab it before he read the note aloud. There was a newspaper for each day since the one they received last night. The papers were to be read in order of the date starting once again with Tibbley, then in the order of the senior students with Quinton and the other seventh year boy, two sixth year girls, Justin, Sally-Anne, Dean then the two fourth year Hufflepuff boys.

Tibbley laughed as he read the last part of the note, "If it seems that Hermione Granger is being passed over despite 'her rank' well that is because it is true but for a very good reason." Tibbley let that sink in and with his smile increasing continued saying, "That is because Hermione Granger would simply grab the newspaper, read all of it silently from cover to cover – minus the sports, fashions and society sections - then inform her captive audience only what _she thinks they should know_ and nothing more."

Everybody (but Hermione) laughed at that simply because it was true. They all needed a bit of laughter especially after each newspaper was read. There was simply nothing to laugh about and much to worry and cry over.

Sally-Anne had been correct in her timekeeping but knew Hermione wouldn't bring up the subject especially since she had been proven wrong. Since Sally-Anne wasn't a petty person and knew what battles to fight, she didn't call Hermione's attention to the fact unlike Hermione who would have if she had been correct and Sally-Anne wrong.

The Ministry had made a dreadful mistake in alerting all Muggleborns currently living and working in Magical Britain that they were soon to be arrested and interrogated concerning how they had managed to "steal magic" for so long. Anyone with an ounce of sense had fled taking their children (if they had any) with them. Thus, if a Half-blood had married a Muggleborn and they had children, the Muggleborn took their children and ran for it and thus hadn't been arrested.

The only ones who didn't take this route were the unfortunate ones whose spouse assured them that due to his/her "connections" their spouse and children were safe. They were proved spectacularly wrong and paid a heavy price. First there was torture to make them confess, then being dosed with Veritaserum second (because torture was "fun" for some people) and then, despite being innocent of stealing magic they were sentenced to Azkaban for the crime of being a "Mudblood" and thus polluting Magical Britain.

Muggleborns who had left Britain after Hogwarts or who went back to the Muggle World to seek employment, were unaffected by the purge as they had "left the Magical World" in the eyes of the Ministry.

Half way through the readings, lunch was served and the students stopped to eat despite Hermione demanding that the newspapers still be read while eating. She was out voted much to her chagrin. Lunch started with the potions and continued with a good soup and chicken pies, followed by more fresh fruit and some biscuits for dessert. Milk, lemonade, ginger ale and Coke were served.

It was a good thing they had taken a lunch break as the news got worse each day.

The day after they had been "rescued" (it was still debatable if they had been rescued or really sold), a beaming Cornelius Fudge, flanked by Umbridge and certain "eminent citizens" such as Lucius Malfoy, made the "happy announcement" that Hogwarts would no longer be accepting Mudbloods and even certain Half-bloods and blood traitors were now under investigation. He was confident that by the 1996 school term, a new era would begin and once again Hogwarts would be known as the "Best School of Magic in the World."

Actually it wouldn't because there were many other schools of magic that now held that title. Even at its heyday Hogwarts had only been the best school in Europe, which didn't include Scandinavia or certain parts of the Balkans and definitely not Russia. Since Albus Dumbledore had become Headmaster and "MOLDED HIS SCHOOL INTO HIS IDEA OF WHAT A MAGICAL SCHOOL SHOULD BE" standards had dropped dramatically especially after he had done away with over half of the prior curriculum.

Hogwarts only offered twelve courses. There were seven cores subjects which had to be taken for the first five years. These were: Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions and Transfiguration. A mandatory flying course was given but only lasted for a few lessons.

After third year you had electives and had to choose a minimum of two. These were: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Muggle Studies. Apparition was offered in sixth year but only if you were considered of age and it lasted only for a few lessons and this was run by the Ministry

There were subjects known as "extra-curricular" consisting of Alchemy, Ancient Studies, Art, Earth Magic, Muggle Art, Music, Muggle Music, Ghoul Studies, Magical Theory and Xylomancy BUT _the existence of these courses were not "advertised"_ meaning, they were available but only at request, usually by Purebloods or a few Half-bloods and you had to pay extra for them as a private tutor (approved by Albus Dumbledore) had to come in and give you instruction.

You also had to be a sixth or seventh year to take these courses and again, before you could Dumbledore had to approve. You had to have received nothing less than an Exceeds Expectations in ALL of your OWLS, then get permission from your Head of House before Dumbledore looked over your petition and decided whether or not to grant it. Then you had to accept the tutor he recommended (or rather allowed to teach it at Hogwarts), pay for it and, just so it wouldn't hurt the feelings of others, you were not allowed to talk about the course(s) you were taking. Few people bothered.

There had once been many clubs to join but again most were considered not relevant or there was not much call for the club. Flitwick ran the Frog Choir but it was rarely used as "there was no need" according to Dumbledore. The only other clubs were the Charms Club (ran by Flitwick), the Herbology Club (ran by Sprout of course), a Chess Club (ran by McGonagall but not advertised as she really didn't have the time to run it but it still existed) and the History Club (ran by one guess who and only one person belonged to it).

Hermione Granger didn't know about them and no one told her and never would because she was "one of those" and naturally Harry Potter would never have been allowed to join because Dumbledore would never let him.

When the article mentioned that all of the prior courses would be brought back as well as the clubs and then listed them in great detail, Hermione all but had a fit. She refused to believe that Dumbledore would have done away with so many courses until her new "nemesis" Tibbley informed her and the others that Flitwick had told his Ravenclaws that since Dumbledore had become Headmaster things had taken a nosedive and would never recover while he was Headmaster.

A verbal fight broke out and disaster was only diverted with the arrival of dinner. Then there would be one more newspaper left to be read before lights out was announced.

Dean Thomas was raving about the food as were the other boys. Although they had only been in Azkaban for 16 days, they were very long days and the gruel had been dreadful. Tonight they had a very good beef stew with lots of vegetables and a large green salad topped by veggies, goat cheese and dried fruit not only for vitamins but because one of the Hufflepuff girls was allergic to beef and for some reason it was known and she and others had a choice of food instead of just being given something to eat "or starve if not." Tibbley said this sounded like their "owner" had some decency in him and that perhaps they were not heading to a bad end. Hermione actually agreed with him.

They had milk and orange and apple juice to drink and choice of a lovely chocolate cake and/or vanilla pudding for dessert.

Unfortunately they ran into a bad storm. The boat was tossed about and remembering how the condition of the boat when they boarded it, the younger (and several older) years started getting scared. Due to this it was decided by an almost unanimous vote (guess who voted against it) that the last newspaper be saved until tomorrow.

The next day was a Sunday as after a very good full English breakfast, several Muggle Sunday papers such as the _The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, The Times_ and _The Guardian_ were delivered much to the joy of most. Since there was no instruction note, the newspapers were divided up among the students. Just to annoy Hermione Granger (and for no other reason), the fourth year Hufflepuff boy whose turn it was to read the last _Daily Prophet_ , asked for and received an almost anonymous vote, to read the _Prophet_ after lunch so that the Muggle papers could be enjoyed by all.

No doubt because it was a Sunday, since the breakfast had been so very large and the papers were being enjoyed, "lunch" was very late as it was a Sunday dinner. The very happy children enjoyed roast leg of lamb with mint jelly, roasted potatoes, peas, creamed onions, honeyed carrots, hot dinner rolls, herbed mushrooms, an impressive relish tray with individual fruit tarts and chocolate mousse for dessert. Milk, chocolate milk, ginger ale, Coke and pumpkin juice were served and, much to Hermione's great disapproval, the three seventh years got a nice bottle of wine to share with their meal. There was a note saying that it was for them only and they were to enjoy it despite any objections by "certain people." No matter what she said (and she did) or how many glares she sent their way, they thoroughly enjoyed their wine if only to piss her off.

After the lovely dinner many wanted to take a nap but Hermione INSISTED that the last edition of the _Prophet_ be read. She was annoyed that they had not received the Sunday edition of the Prophet and had started a conversation about its absence. Finally the fourth year Puff started reading the paper so that they could all enjoy the rest of their day. Many wished that he hadn't.

Once again there was an interview given by Fudge informing the public about the Ministry's success in bringing Hogwarts back to its former glory. He was trying to stress that and not talk about anything else but he had finally given into pressure and commented on the Ministry's progress on apprehending the most wanted criminals in Britain.

Apparently Dumbledore's vigilante organization known as the Order of the Phoenix had been severely compromised. The Ministry had received an anonymous letter enclosing a list of all Order members and that the notorious criminal and Azkaban escapee Sirius Black had been and was still a member of that organization and was apparently funding it. Fudge was confident that all Order members would soon be captured and brought to justice before receiving the Kiss or being thrown through the Veil of Death.

The Gryffindor students were upset that Dumbledore was in danger and even Hermione was quiet. She couldn't admit to anyone that she knew where Headquarters was located and was friends with Sirius Black and the other Order members. She just hoped that they, especially Sirius, listened to the Headmaster and did not do anything stupid.

Soon it was time to sleep and many yawns later all found themselves in dreamland. They woke up again to the sounds of breakfast arriving and soon bathroom breaks and eating occupied their time. As soon as the food was gone and the first ablutions of the day had been accomplished the door opened and in walked a man. All eyes naturally turned towards him and before Tibbley could say anything Hermione jumped right in.

"You're the hooded figure aren't you? What is your real plan for us? Surely you really aren't selling us to slavers? Who sent you? Was it Professor Dumbledore to rescue us and you just 'pranked us' with your scary story and fake evil laugh? Where are we going and why have we only been given newspapers to read and not told anything?"

"Granger" Tibbley shouted out in anger, "Are you incapable of following protocol?"

"Why yes she is Mr. Tibbley," a now much nicer voice stated. "As perhaps you all or at some of you know, Hermione Granger feels that it is her right to know everything that is going on even when it definitely isn't."

"There's no need to be insulting," Hermione snapped back. She had risen from sitting on the floor and had stormed over to the man determined to get her answers. Tibbley just let her hoping that she would be put in her place for once. Dumbledore might have let her walk all over Potter and even certain others, but now Granger was way out of her league. However, the stranger merely pointed his wand at her and Hermione clutched at her throat. Damn! He had silenced her.

"You'll be leaving the boat. You will march out in double file with Tibbley leading and a house elf will show you the way to the encampment where you will be staying. . . .ESCAPE because there are guard dogs patrolling and they attack on command. Besides it is in your best interest to obey orders."

"When you reach the building you will be taken to a dormitory, one for males and one for females. You'll take showers and are to scrub yourself clean. Haircuts will be given to those who need them and there will be no refusal. You will be given clean clothes, a hot meal and assigned a bed. You will stay in your dormitory and all meals will be served there. No questions are to be asked and no answers given if they are."

With that said, he left and two sailors showed the students to the dock where a house elf was waiting to take them down a path which lead to a large, fenced-in enclosure. Hermione had not been released from the silencing charm much to her chagrin and the amusement of the others. Once inside the gate was shut behind them and the elf led them passed several large buildings until they reached their destination.

The sexes were segregated upon entering and they were led to the showers and after much scrubbing they were clean. However, Hermione's bushy locks were too tangled and unmanageable as were the hair of two Hufflepuffs who had long very curly hair. Much to their dismay, all three girls received a very short haircut despite the tears of the Puffs and Hermione's silent complaints. Sally-Anne said Hermione's hair looked very nice that way but Hermione was having none of it. She felt like she had been…raped…or something equally insulting, but so what. Her wishes and complaints were totally ignored and would remain so until if and when the stranger returned to tell them of their fate.


	5. Chapter 5 - Betrayal

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 5 – Betrayal

Voldemort was happy. It had only been six weeks since he entered into an alliance with "Lord Seven" as the mysterious stranger called himself. The man had just strolled into Voldemort's private quarters in Malfoy Manor while Voldemort had been asleep and nudged him awake. He then said, "How's it going Tom?" and before Voldemort could whip his wand out from under his pillow or hiss to Nagini to strike at the man, he felt magical bonds wrap around his torso and was told that "Nagini is taking a nap" before the man had the nerve to sit down on the bed and said, "We need to talk."

And talk they had, although it had not been willingly on Voldemort's part at first. However, after a few hours they came to an agreement. The agreement benefitted Voldemort. Lord Seven would give Voldemort 90% of EVERYTHING he had originally claimed to have wanted. He'd get it with very little effort on his part and, as Lord Seven pointed out, "You will save the lives of many of your followers who would have died or have been severely harmed if you continued with your current plans. You claim to want to preserve 'pure blood' don't you?"

And Voldemort had… _originally_. There were so many things he _originally_ wanted to do when he first started his crusade. However, in the last five or six years of the first war, he started going insane and had become not only cruel but lethal. He had recruited the very dregs of the earth such as the likes of Fenrir Greyback and had ordered things done in his name which he never would have considered.

Lord Seven told him why and it had horrified him. It also made perfect sense and explained so many things.

"I know you won't believe me until you find out for yourself," Lord Seven had told him, "Therefore before you make any decisions concerning my offer of help, investigate the matter yourself, although I strongly advise you don't mention it to ANYONE as…well you have always known you can't trust anyone haven't you?"

Before Lord Seven "showed himself out" he gave Voldemort a present and advised him to use it. "I'll give you two weeks to do your research and then I'll find you," the Lord had said. "I'll use little Draco Malfoy's personal eagle owl to breech the Malfoy wards and deliver a letter. If you don't receive my letter by, oh say July 15th, put a personal ad in the _Prophet_. He gave him the ad to place, just in case. Then, to make certain that Voldemort didn't attempt to double cross him, Lord Seven picked up the unconscious Nagini, shrunk her down to a portable size and left with the beloved familiar to use as a hostage until he heard from Voldemort.

The next morning Voldemort, carrying his present, called a meeting of all of his Death Eaters, except for Severus Snape. It was a rather explosive meeting and after giving orders and swearing his minions to total secrecy – on pain of death for them and their _entire_ family.

Everything had been exactly as Lord Seven said it was. Thus Voldemort had been able to make radical changes to his latest plans and when Draco's owl flew into Malfoy Manor carrying the letter, he was able to send back his answer.

A contract had been signed – with a blood quill – and true to his word Lord Seven had set into motion his part of the bargain. It was quite simple as far as agreements go and very favorable to Voldemort. It came down to the following:

Harry Potter would disappear from Hogwarts which in turn would lead to Albus Dumbledore being driven away from Hogwarts, arrested and becoming a fugitive.

All Muggleborns would be expelled from Hogwarts and "made an example of" and then Fudge would start a campaign that would result in all Muggleborns living in Magical Britain fleeing the country and taking their offspring with them. The "Great Book of Hogwarts" would be spelled to finally cross off the names of all Muggleborn children denying them entrance to Hogwarts. Nobody had access to the Great Book of Hogwarts except the Headmaster and Deputy Head. It could not be removed from Hogwarts or even the room where it was kept despite so many trying to do so over the centuries.

However, Lord Seven would not have them killed because as he told Voldemort "It has long been assumed that Muggleborns are the descendants of Squibs and didn't you originally want them taken from their Muggle families and either adopted or raised in special Magical orphanages? You know now why you stopped wanting that done so why kill other potential Magicals?

Lord Seven would make arrangements for all Muggleborns to leave Britain and thus Magical blood would be saved but the Purebloods would seemed to be getting their way and Voldemort would be able to keep his promises of a Mudblood-free Britain.

Voldemort could then bring Hogwarts back to its original glory and all the magic which Dumbledore had managed to have outlawed because he had declared it dark, could once again be taught. He would then control the education and form the opinions of future generations.

With Dumbledore a fugitive and an outlaw, Voldemort could just waltz in and take over the Ministry of Magic and the rest of Britain would follow like dominos falling. Since it would be a bloodless revolution, other countries would not involve themselves in the affairs of Britain and Voldemort would have a free hand to do whatever he wanted with Magical Britain.

Lord Seven would do everything in his formidable power to flush Dumbledore out from wherever he was hiding. He would also arrange for most of the Order of the Phoenix to be captured and if he preferred, Lord Seven would hand them over so that Voldemort could personally torture and kill them at his leisure.

In fact, the more he thought about it, Lord Seven would prefer that Voldemort see to the "final solution" in regard to the Order of the Phoenix because Lord Seven had better and more important things to do or see to than killing scum, sleazes and vermin.

There were three things which Lord Seven wanted for "his services" and these were non-negotiable.

Dumbledore was to be killed - no ifs, ands or buts. The wizard had to be dead and Voldemort had to arrange for it or do it himself. Since Dumbledore's destruction and death was what both Voldemort and Lord Seven wanted above all else, Lord Seven thought Voldemort would enjoy the "gift" he was giving Voldemort. Lord Seven hoped Voldemort would reciprocate the "gift" by placing Dumbledore's head on a pike in a public place – of his choosing as long as it was a public place – and spell it to stay put so that no faithful follower could remove it. Voldemort could make the decision whether or not to spell a stasis charm on it.

Lord Seven wanted Voldemort's word that he would not harm or cause harm to be done to certain individuals which Lord Seven said were his heirs. He wouldn't tell Voldemort who his heirs were until such time as Dumbledore was killed. Well actually he did tell him who one heir was. Unfortunately for Voldemort, Harry Potter was the main one. However, Voldemort knew that he could never harm Harry Potter because…well among other things, Harry Potter was Voldemort's Horcrux. Nagini had told Tom that interesting fact but he hadn't had the time or for some strange reason, the inclination to investigate it further.

The third part of the agreement was quite surprising. Lord Seven wanted several other people killed.

Some Voldemort didn't care about and others surprised him. Others were some of his most faithful Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy. Of course all his Death Eaters were expendable and Lucius had proved to be a great disappointment to him.

Samhein was fast approaching. That had been the deadline for Lord Seven to fulfill his part of the agreement. And he had, even to the part where Albus Dumbledore would be delivered into Voldemort's hands. Unfortunately, Voldemort's most trusted had let Dumbledore slip through their fingers.

Lord Seven was thus called because he was the Lord of Seven Houses. One of them was the House of Black. It was thought that Sirius Black was the Lord Black and the only reason he hadn't claimed his Lordship was because he was incarcerated in Azkaban. But that wasn't the real reason. Sirius' father Orion had died but he had only been the Heir as his father Arcturus had been the current Lord Black and had survived until 1991.

Arcturus Black had been totally disgusted with his family. Even his son Orion had been a disappointment to him and both his grandsons. Orion, or rather his hateful wife Walburga, had tried to disown Sirius by telling people he had been disowned and burning his name off of their copy of the Black Family Tree, but in reality only Arcturus could disown and/or bequeath the title and Lordship to the heir of his choosing. And he had.

In 1979 Regulus had died and was followed shortly by his father Orion. Sirius was still alive and free getting into as much trouble as possible despite the fact that he was an Auror. He was also a dissolute, traitorous piece of flobberworm dung in Arcturus' eyes. He had thumbed his nose at his heritage and all that it stood for and had he ever been offered the Lordship, despite what he told the world he would snap it up in an instance if only to have access to the power and great wealth of the family and so he could utterly destroy and end the House which he so hated.

Therefore it _"was well-known by everybody"_ that the only other possible heir was Draco Malfoy. _"Everybody knew"_ because Lucius Malfoy had told the world that it was and could only be his son as Narcissa was the only member of the Black Family who had produced a magical, Pureblood MALE child. However, Arcturus despised Lucius Malfoy almost as much as his grandson. Thus he had disowned Draco and forever barred him and any of his descendants from inheriting.

He could do this because there were other heirs, some with as good as or better claim than the known ones. Granted they were not on the tree tapestry which graced Grimmauld Place which Walburga had burned off the name of those she had disowned as that was a copy. That showed the "legitimate heirs" while original family tree was kept in the Lord's private office at Black Castle and seen only by those he allowed to see it. It was from one of these heirs that Lord Seven had sprung.

Lord Seven had claimed the Lordship in February of 1992 and told no one. Only the Goblins and two others had known about it. It served the purpose of several entities that no one would know until Lord Seven struck. He had allowed Sirius Black to claim Grimmauld Place as his own. As a Black he did have the right to enter any Black property which he hadn't been barred from. Lord Seven had found out that Sirius had come back to the house he had grown up in and truly hated at the request of Dumbledore so that his precious Order of the Phoenix could have a Headquarters and live off the Black Family accounts which were still valid.

Dumbledore had placed the house under a Fidelius with himself as the secret keeper. He also had Sirius by the proverbial balls since he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix and had thus sworn several permanent oaths to Dumbledore. He was a virtual prisoner and was forced to dance to Dumbledore's tune.

Lord Seven had found out about Dumbledore's schemes and plans for many and heard from a very reliable source that Dumbledore planned to eventually kill off Sirius and then his heir Harry Potter. Dumbledore would then have access to all of the Black wealth and political power. Arcturus had foreseen the possible destruction of his House when Sirius had joined that damnable order and had left instructions for his true heir Lord Seven to "avenge the House of your Ancestors" and Lord Seven had done it.

Dumbledore had placed the Fidelius but Lord Seven controlled the wards. He alerted Voldemort to have his Death Eaters lurking about in a certain neighborhood and have anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards in place. Lord Seven would change the wards thus cancelling the Fidelius and everyone in the house would be cast out into the street without warning.

As a very angry Lord Seven had later told Voldemort, "I did everything except wrap a bow around Dumbledore's big nose and personally hand him to you yet YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!"

Dumbledore had escaped because when he felt the wards drop he had called out for a faithful house elf. Fawkes had disappeared and never returned so Dumbledore had acquired two house elves after his expulsion from Hogwarts when he lost their services. It had proved the saving of him as no one thought about house elves.

Dumbledore had been cast out with the rest of the others who had been staying in Grimmauld Place and as the fight for survival began the elf had appeared and whisked his master away to safety. There had been seven members cast out besides Dumbledore, including Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. It was seven against 40 of Voldemort's best trained Death Eaters and the seven were killed.

Dumbledore could have stayed and fought but looking at the odds he knew _"it was his duty to save himself because the rest of the Order needed him."_ The entire Magical World needed him as he was the only one capable of defeating Voldemort. It had been a "difficult and heartbreaking decision to make" he would tell the other members, "but after Sirius, Remus, Kingsley and Emmeline went down, I was urged to escape to continue the fight to save our world from evil."

Naturally his followers believed him. He had always had a private bolt hole and only he knew its whereabouts with himself as the secret keeper. He had allowed both elves access to it and that was where they stayed when he didn't need them.

Voldemort had lost 11 of his fighters because despite orders Sirius, Remus, Kingsley and Emmeline were not using stunners as they fought to survive and thus took out as many as they could before they died.

Voldemort and Lord Seven were in the middle of a disagreement. As far as Lord Seven was concerned he had fulfilled all of his promises. It had been Voldemort who had "lost Dumbledore" and now it was just mere days until Samhein and Voldemort had no idea where Dumbledore had gone. He tried to negotiate with Lord Seven but it was difficult to do as they were corresponding by Draco's owl. They used his owl because it could get through the wards of Malfoy Manor and Lord Seven had managed to "acquire" the owl to start the correspondence.

Unfortunately for Voldemort, if Dumbledore wasn't dead before Samhein, the agreement could be considered null and void. Ordinarily Voldemort wouldn't care because once he got most of the things he wanted out of the agreement – like Dumbledore's death, he could take care of the rest by himself and be beholding to no one, just the way he liked it.

However, it wouldn't work this time because not only did Lord Seven have Harry Potter, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes BUT he also still had Nagini, another Horcrux besides being his familiar and – surprise, surprise Slytherin's Locket yet another one of his Horcruxes. Once the agreement was completed to Lord Seven's satisfaction, Voldemort would get back Nagini and the locket.

Lord Seven had informed Voldemort to "check the place where you hid the locket" and after he did he found out it was a fake and had been replaced by Regulus Black who had given his life to retrieve the locket and have it destroyed by a reliable source.

Lord Seven never said he would destroy Nagini or the locket if the agreement had been broken but Voldemort might not get them back and since he was not a trusting person there was always the unspoken threat.

Voldemort had nearly killed Lucius when he found out about the destruction of his journal (only girls had diaries in his opinion). At the suggestion of Lord Seven Voldemort had retrieved his ring and reabsorbed it. This helped with his sanity and his looks (he now had a nose and hair) and it had been his intention of reabsorbing the Horcrux in Nagini to get back some of what he had lost in making all of those Horcruxes. The diadem was "safe" at Hogwarts at least for the moment and the cup was in Bellatrix's vault. As far as he knew, no one else knew about them but since Bellatrix was subservient to Lord Seven it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

Voldemort had been planning to rescue his faithful from Azkaban but had been too busy and had planned to do it by Christmas as "a present to himself" and because he wouldn't have to worry about taking over the Ministry as it would be a done deal and he could afford the exposure. However, it would now be in his best interests to rescue Bellatrix and the others just in case Lord Seven refused to return his Horcruxes.

The man could not be found as it had been made a part of the agreement that Voldemort would not track him nor have others do it for him. The agreement had been worded carefully and since they had both signed it with a blood quill it was almost as good as making a magical oath. Neither wizard would swear on their life and magic for good reasons known to both.

Lord Seven had arranged it all beforehand that if things went south, he could and would just walk away and keep the Horcruxes. Voldemort would still have Britain without shedding blood (yet) but he just might lose his soul parts and have no way to retaliate against Lord Seven. Well he did have one way. From now on he would refer to him only as "Seven" instead of "Lord Seven." It would be in his mind only as his followers didn't know about Lord Seven or the agreement but it was all Voldemort had in the way of getting back at the man by refusing him the courtesy of his title.

After receiving the letter from "Seven" berating him for losing Dumbledore, Voldemort had not sent a reply. He had to admit that it was his fault – or rather his stupid Death Eaters – but he still had until Samhein to find and kill Dumbledore. Therefore he kept Draco's owl and didn't answer the letter. He was a bit embarrassed at the failure and other than freeing his followers from Azkaban, all of his resources were dedicated to finding Dumbledore.

Seven sat in his impenetrable fortress waiting for a return owl, not receiving it and preparing to be disappointed yet again by "great wizards" and their failed plans.

He had to admit that he had not been surprised when Dumbledore found a way to escape. That he had chosen to save himself "for the Greater Good" had also not surprised him. He had been studying the life and actions of Albus Dumbledore for years and knew he planned to survive at any cost despite how many lives were ruined or lost in the process.

Seven desperately wanted Albus Dumbledore dead but it was not going to be by his hand. Like Dumbledore himself, he would have others do most of his dirty work for him so that he could technically keep his hands clean, just like Dumbledore did. It had been an unspoken assignment at Hogwarts that all "good" witches and wizards should try to emulate the Headmaster, try to become as much like him as possible since he was the greatest wizard since Merlin and the Leader of the Light and possessed so many other titles and accolades that if you were a good, decent and noble person and were a Light wizard, you modeled yourself after Dumbledore.

So Seven was in this situation at least. Unfortunately for him, his dupes, fools and lackeys were not as competent as some of Dumbledore's hence Dumbledore managing to escape to "live" and "fight again" another day. At least he had lost some of his best underlings and as well as two on his death list.

However the "understanding" he had with Voldemort was that first, before they died horribly, Seven wanted them dosed with Veritaserum and certain questions asked. It would have greatly benefitted both Seven and Voldemort had the answers been obtained. As usual, instead of using the "Slytherin cunning" they were so proud of the Death Eaters in charge of the operation had let their lust for the kill, their fear of being injured or killed to take over and disobeyed the DIRECT ORDER of Voldemort to bring Sirius Black and Remus Lupin back alive. They could have been injured, tortured a bit on the way to the interrogation BUT they had to be brought back alive for the questions to be asked and answered.

In the last letter Seven sent he had asked Voldemort if he had his minions under his control or if they just did what they felt like such as disobeying direct orders. "And if you do have them under control, which I have lately begun to doubt," Seven had written, "then why have the 'leaders of the mission" not been punished? Three of them were on my request list, yet they are still alive and flourishing even showing signs of not having been tortured or punished in any way for their failure. WHY?"

Voldemort had no answer for that as those at fault had conveniently been called away by Fudge of all people and had let the underlings give the report to their Lord. Lucius, Mulciber and Marius Flint even had their picture taken with Fudge, standing behind him smiling in agreement as Fudge announced yet another "improvement" at Hogwarts. They had also been interviewed by the _Prophet_ concerning this and that and Seven had not been pleased to see that Voldemort "allowed his minions to all but thumb their nose at he, Seven."

Voldemort hadn't replied to the letter for several reasons. The first one being that Dumbledore had been delivered into their hands but had managed to escape. The second was due to the three cowards who evaded (if only temporarily) their just punishment but had made it seem to Seven that Voldemort either didn't control them or was indeed insulting Seven and perhaps attempting to get around their contract thus welching on parts of their agreement. As long as Malfoy and the others were hanging onto Fudge they couldn't be summoned without questions being asked. The one time they actually used their brains and it was to his detriment.

The final reason was the most…aggravating…or rather, disturbing in Voldemort's opinion. Seven had dared to insult him (although rightly so) and had dared to threaten him, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort did not like Seven's tone. He didn't like his insinuations, his barbs and the truth of his accusations. But worse of all he disliked that there was nothing he could do to bring Lord Seven "into line" or make him a follower or better yet, crush and/or kill him and seize his titles, money and power.

He had only met the man once and it had been at the man's choosing. Somehow Seven had gotten through the wards of Malfoy Manor and into HIS private, well-warded bedchambers, stolen his Nagini, disarmed him and actually had him at his mercy. He then surprised him by offering him all that he wanted in a very short time, without much loss of his forces and resources or getting him in trouble with the international organizations. He calculated that he, Lord Voldemort, would be in total control of Magical Britain – LEGALLY – by the winter solstice.

And the best thing of all Dumbledore would be dead, his reputation and legend destroyed, all of his "life's work" ruined and Voldemort would have the credit for accomplishing it. It would be his name that would go down in the history books as having saved Magical Britain and Magic itself from Albus Dumbledore. He would gain all of this and more and all he had to do was a few favors to a man he would never have to see or deal with again.

Now, in little over a week, it would all be null and void, it could all come crumbling down unless Dumbledore was found and killed.

Ordinarily, he would survive. Seven would not undo all that he had apparently been planning for years. No, Voldemort could just waltz in and take over everything and still search for Dumbledore. Next to living forever, Dumbledore's death was the second thing Voldemort wanted most. Seven had served his purpose and had it not been for the fact that he had Nagini, the locket and the Horcrux Harry Potter in his possession, Voldemort wouldn't give a damn about what Seven said, thought or did.

Voldemort couldn't find him to kill or imprisoned as Seven had made absolutely certain about that and Voldemort had sworn to not track or compromise the owl messenger. He would not, however, return the owl with a letter as that would give Seven something to worry about. As long as Voldemort _eventually_ fulfilled his part of the agreement he would not be at fault or subject to the penalties inserted into the agreement. He'd would _eventually_ capture and kill Dumbledore but not before Samhein as no doubt Dumbledore wouldn't come out of hiding anywhere near Samhein due to all of the interesting things which tended to happen around that special date.

Hopefully Seven would start sweating after not hearing from Voldemort and Voldemort would immediately retrieve at least Bellatrix from Azkaban. He would then sneak her into Gringotts to get the Horcrux in her vault if only for his own peace of mind.

At 11:40 p.m. on October 30th, Azkaban was attacked, all the Aurors "seen to" and the Dementors recruited over to Voldemort's side. They would still stay at the prison until further notice lulling the Ministry into thinking that this was a breakout organized and carried out by Sirius Black. No one at the Ministry (who wasn't a follower of Voldemort) and especially not the public knew that Black was dead, thus he would be blamed for the outbreak when it was discovered.

At exactly 12:07 a.m. on October 31st, Voldemort led "his faithful" away from Azkaban as well as any other persons who wished to join him. If they refused his generous offer like some in level one did, well they would be "seen to" like the Aurors.

It would take a few days before Bellatrix and the others could recover enough to be of use. It took an entire day of careful attention from healers and the Malfoy house elves to clean up the rescued and nearly a week to treat their injuries, dose them with enough potions and begin a special diet before they were good for anything, even casting a simple spell. Fourteen years in Azkaban had nearly destroyed most of them and two were too far gone and had to be "mercifully put down" due to their magic being destroyed.

As soon as the most faithful and dedicated Bellatrix was able, she was taken to Gringotts to retrieve a certain item her Lord had entrusted to her only to be informed that her marriage to Rudolphus had been dissolved, her dowry recalled and the contents of her vault transferred to her Head of House.

"It is the same with your sister Narcissa," a Goblin gleefully told the witch. "Lord Black did this August 1st of this year but simply didn't bother informing either of you. Your sister's marriage was dissolved at exactly 4:35 a.m. on October 31st and her dowry recalled. I'm surprised that she hasn't told anyone yet."

The reason Narcissa hadn't told anyone yet was because she didn't know about it. She was summoned into the presence of Lord Black who was in Gringotts' best (and most secure) conference room the moment Bellatrix had entered the bank. According to her personal house elf, "Missy Narcissa received a Family Summons and she immediately had to leave. Poor Missy barely had time to finish dressing so quick and so painfully intense the call had been."

Narcissa didn't return to Malfoy Manor that day. It was evident from Lucius' utter fury that the woman feared for her life and rightly so. Besides her dowry, one of the stipulations in the marriage contract "absolved the Malfoy Family" of certain monetary obligations they had accrued because Cygnus Black, the father of Narcissa and Bellatrix, had asked his cousin/brother-in-law for a "donation" so that their daughter could make a good marriage. Andromeda Black, Narcissa and Bellatrix's sister, was originally supposed to marry Lucius Malfoy. However she totally disgraced the House of Black by running off with a Muggleborn.

The scandal had damaged the reputation of all the Black sisters and Abraxas, Lucius' father had made some rather bad investments. The Malfoys had money but their lavish lifestyle, the bad investments and the huge sums they had contributed to "the cause" had resulted in a severe and embarrassing shortage of funds.

Abraxas was dreadful with finances and he had made the mistake of borrowing from a rather unsavory source or the Magical equivalent of a loan shark. It was shocking to find out that oops, he had to pay back what he owed on time not only the full amount but the large interest charges. Not even the Malfoy name would sway the lenders and in desperation, he had requested personal loans from his friends to pay back the loan sharks. Otherwise he would have lost Malfoy Manor.

He then found out that he really didn't have "friends" or at least friends with enough money to "lend" him the amount needed to save his home. Cygnus wouldn't let Narcissa marry Lucius (and give him the dowry) unless Abraxas found a way to pay off his "disgraceful debts" first. No Malfoy Manor, then no marriage. Cygnus wanted the marriage to go forth but he didn't want to risk his daughter's dowry being flitted away due to Abraxas' carelessness. It was bad enough that he had to all but double Narcissa's and Bellatrix's dowries because of Andromeda's indiscretion and the two dowries now took most of his personal fortune.

It had been Walburga Black, Cygnus' sister and the wife of Arcturus Black's heir, who came through with the funds necessary to save the Manor and Abraxas' reputation. However, a special contract was written up, which Abraxas didn't pay much attention to, the loan sharks were paid off, the Manor saved and the marriage took place.

Due to the disaster and nearly losing the Manor, Lucius honed himself into a careful and astute financier. He had rebuilt the Malfoy fortune up over the years, thanks mainly to careful investments and being totally ruthless in his business dealings. However, he had to make a lot of very expensive "campaign contributions" and "charitable donations" over the years especially to escape going to Azkaban. Now that the Dark Lord was back, he had to open his home, pay his share of funding the new war and then force to pay reparations to the Dark Lord himself for destroying "the book" to save not only his own life but that of his family.

What Lucius had not told the Dark Lord – yet – was that loan was still being paid back. Granted it was a no interest loan and despite the large amount borrowed the Malfoys only had to pay a very small amount back every year. Orion had died in 1979 and ever since Walburga died in 1985 Lucius considered the loan "repaid" as he knew that old Arcturus didn't know about the loan (as he wouldn't have approved) and Draco was going to be his heir anyway so why bother?

Lucius was about to find out because:

(1) Arcturus had known about the loan and definitely didn't approve;

(2) Most of the agreements in the loan contract had been ignored or broken;

(3) Lucius had been trying to claim the Lordship for Draco despite warnings from Arcturus it was never going to happen;

(4) Lucius had told everybody that Draco was the heir and they were only waiting for Sirius Black to die for him to claim the Lordship;

(5) Lucius had bribed certain persons in the Ministry to allow him to use the Black proxy vote because Arcturus had basically retired from public life and many thought him dead. Thanks to his bribes, he had been illegally using the Black vote since 1994 despite a warning from Gringotts that he was breaking the law, but since Fudge was on his side, Lucius had broken the law and it seemed he was getting away with it; and

(6) Lucius had violated so much of the contract that according to the terms of the contract, Lord Black had every right to demand either full payment with a retroactive 25% interest penalty or _foreclose and claim_ Malfoy Manor.

Because of the severity and amount of violations and the way the contract had been originally worded, Lucius didn't get to choose between the 25% or foreclosure. Lord Black did. Guess what he chose to do?

Much to his absolute horror not only had Narcissa disappeared, so had all of her and Draco's personal possessions and the precious heirlooms, books, etc. which she had brought with her at the time of her marriage or had inherited from friends/relatives. This included all house elves she had brought with her at the time of her marriage (at least the ones who survived being a Malfoy house elf) who very nicely snuck back to Malfoy Manor and packed up everything belonging to Narcissa, or rather Lord Black.

Nobody escaped Lord Black and he was giving Voldie one more chance to live up to their agreement. A note was attached to the notice and now the rest was up to Voldemort.


	6. Chapter 6 - Don't Tread On Me

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Note: I tried to put a picture of the flag but it didn't take so if you want to see it you will have to look it up.

Chapter 6 – Don't Tread on Me

Lord Seven had received an excellent education, although most of it was due to his own efforts and interests. He had a great interest in snakes as he thought they were beautiful. While doing research in America he had come across some flags used in the American Revolution. One such flag was the Gadsden Flag which had a yellow field and depicted a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. At the bottom of the flag were the words "Don't Tread on Me" and Seven (as he also called himself as did his very few friends) thought it would be apt to send a replica of this flag to Voldemort via Lucius Malfoy who would be receiving it from the Goblins when they informed him that he had one week to vacate Malfoy Manor and remove all of his personal possessions or lose them.

He had made arrangements with Bloodclaw, the Black account manager, to have a recording rune in place to capture the expression on Lucius' face when he was given the news as well as when he received the package (which held the flag) and ordered to take the package to his master as the usual "errand boy" had not returned with an answer to Lord Black's letter.

At least Seven was giving Voldie (what he called Voldemort – but not to his face) and Lucius a week to "leave town fast" and find a place to live. One of Seven's _suggestions_ to Voldie at their first and only meeting was to find another headquarters and not use Malfoy Manor because that would be the first place everybody would look.

One of the requirements of the loan contract or "Abraxas' disgrace" as Lucius referred to it was that upon notice of foreclosure, Lucius was obliged to immediately drop all wards on Malfoy Manor. Although it had been Abraxas who had sworn on his life and magic to do so, he had also (as an angry Lucius was told) sworn it for his descendants. Walburga Black had been a very thorough witch and thought of everything. The expression on Lucius' face when Bloodclaw mentioned (or rather warned) of this fact was priceless.

Although Voldie had suspected that Seven had a spy at Malfoy Manor, he had no idea who it was. He would never know that it was Narcissa's personal elf, Maisie. Maisie was a Black house elf, one of three which made up part of Narcissa's dowry. She was beholding to Narcissa ONLY and not Lucius. She had the option of obeying Draco and did but not if it went against his mother's wishes.

As Lord Black, Seven had recruited Maisie before Voldie's resurrection. It was as if he knew what was going to happen. That was how Seven had been able to pay the midnight visit to Voldemort undetected and make his escape. Draco's eagle owl had been acquired before he left Hogwarts by Seven's spy at Hogwarts.

It was good to be a Lord of Seven Houses and have wealth, power, faithful spies, followers and vassals. It was also good to own a 60% interest in the _Daily Prophet_ so that he could make them print anything he wanted even a strange border which appeared on the front page and would continue to do so until Voldie sent Seven a reply to his last letter. Only another speaker of parsel would know what the "decorative" squiggly lines really were.

It had taken Voldie four days to reply to the "decoration" because he had been busy – packing and fleeing – and no one had remembered to give him a copy of the newspaper until he found one placed on his breakfast tray. It had been put there and delivered by a house elf at Maisie's request. She had left the Manor the day Lucius had received notice of the dissolution of his marriage. She had had just enough time (because Seven had tipped her off) to pack all of Narcissa's personal possessions and most of Draco's before fleeing to the place of safety which Lord Black had arranged for Narcissa to hide.

The border basically said that Seven's heir (meaning Harry) had kindly written the note. The border read:

" _Since you didn't reply to my last letter, I began to worry about you," Seven had written sarcastically. "You missed the deadline and old Dumbledamndickdoodle is not only still alive but free as the proverbial bird. Why? Even if you have nothing to say to me the least you could do is return the owl. Please do it or…well I'll be very angry and . . . ."_

So Voldie wrote a quick letter saying 'things came up unexpectedly' and sent the bird back to Seven. He received a reply the same day.

" _I guess you have been too busy to keep a 'business associate' informed what with losing Dumbledickdoodoo, his still being alive and free to wreck more misery and mischief and destroy Magic. I thought you weren't planning on rescuing Bellatrix and the others before Christmas? I hope you didn't go to all that trouble to rescue something much dearer to you than Bellatrix and your other faithful followers. Something like, oh the cup stashed – rather precariously I might add – in Bella's dowry vault."_

" _Fear not as I took the liberty of going through Bella's things and found 'the cup' and I have it in a very safe place. In my early life I was forced to go without many things but now that I have more than I could ever dream of owning, I still tend to take care of my possessions and anything of 'great value' that comes my way. I think you are much the same."_

" _You may tell Lucius that I also have one of his possessions and am keeping it safe. Sort of. Draco is 'safe' from some people, but whether he remains 'safe' with me…well who can tell what will happen in the future. Since Narcissa's marriage is dissolved, I have claimed Draco No Name as a dependent. . . .LORDSHIP, but Lucius already knows that. Due to his precarious financial situation I think Lucius will be desperately trying to find a new, younger, very rich wife to 'please his Dark Lord' or rather himself as money pleases most people."_

" _He will also want to sire a new heir or two but I suggest he does it soon – like last year – as even though I have decided to keep him alive, despite our arrangement, I am now forced to take matters into my own hands since you are such a welcher. The old saying is true, "If you want anything done right, than do it yourself" but it saddens (and angers) me that you can't or won't keep your word. True you will 'eventually' find and kill Dumbledopedipshit but you were supposed to do it NOW and I did keep my end of the bargain."_

" _I hope you liked the present I sent you. A nice flag which originated in the American Revolution. I hope you get the message loud and clear otherwise I will send you another 'message' and you . .ONE 'Tom my boy' as a certain piece of flobberworm dung likes to call you – to your face. Hope to hear a reply to this letter soon."_

Seven really didn't expect he'd hear back from Voldie too soon. What could the guy say? Seven had enough to occupy his time, too much in fact. With great power came great responsibilities and some of the things he had set out to do had been done so even if Voldie reneged on everything else, if he killed Dumbledore, Seven would be content.

He had rescued all the Muggleborns at Hogwarts and made a copy of the Great Book so that the next group of Muggleborns could be found and spirited away before the fools who ruled Magical Britain could get to them. He had arranged for them to go to other countries alone and given their parents the opportunity to immigrate and paid for it out of the funds of one of his other Lordships. The ghosts of his Black ancestors would have come back and haunted him for sure if he had used any of their money.

Hogwarts had been sacrificed to the goals and ambitions of others but in a way it had been rescued from the goals and ambitions of Albus Dumbledore so that made it all worth it. In 100 years it would all be a moot point as without fresh blood (Muggle and/or Squib descendants), the Half-bloods would soon become Purebloods and then there would be more Squibs and deformed children being born than healthy magical offspring.

In 100 years who knew how many children would come to Hogwarts to be educated. Some of the great school might have to be turned into condominiums to break even! But that wouldn't be his problem as he would be long gone and his descendants would be going to school in America and other places.

His Black heirs might still want to marry other Purebloods but they would be from other countries and NOT BRITAIN. That was another part of the Pureblood problem in Britain. No one wanted to marry into British society because…well so many of them were crazy, vicious, too inbred to produce healthy offspring and had many other problems. The British were too proud and too egotistical to lower themselves to marry outside of Britannia and it had cost them dearly.

A French Pureblood would marry an Italian, a German, a Spaniard or other Purebloods "to keep themselves pure" but not inbred. They didn't have to marry a Muggleborn or even a Half-blood to keep magic and health in their line although the sensible ones did out of love or financial necessity. It wasn't going to happen in Britain and it would doom them all eventually.

Surprisingly it had been Arcturus Lord Black who had spent much time and money researching "blood" but he had not personally been able to arrange any of the important marriages in his family because his father had been alive and refused to listen to his pleas. His father, Sirius II had arranged his marriage, the marriage of his own daughter and only son and several others. He had made a right mess of it all but he had married members of his House to "good, British Purebloods" and that was all that matter to him. Not love, compatibility or talent, just Blood (and money) was taken into consideration.

When he had married Arcturus' only son to his own first cousin he had seen the writing on the wall. His children's and the next generation had been either insane (Walburga, Bellatrix), indifferent (Alphard, Orion, Sirius III, Andromeda), vicious (Walburga, Cygnus, Bellatrix), manipulative (Walburga, Cygnus), STUPID where it counted (Orion, Alphard, Cygnus, Sirius III), insufferably naïve (Orion, Sirius III, Regulus, Narcissa) and not worthy of inheriting anything. Some like Alphard and Regulus had never married, those who had had married badly, were infertile or produced little to none "healthy (magical)" offspring.

Andromeda had married a Muggleborn and only got one daughter out of the arrangement. Had the child been a boy or Andromeda remarried a Pureblood and then produced a healthy child (even another girl), he would have considered reinstating her into the family had the "boy(s)" been healthy, magical and sane. But after the birth of the Metamorphmagus she could not have another child.

He had found out that due to a dark ritual Walburga had used to finally get pregnant, both Sirius and Regulus were born sterile. Bellatrix had been pregnant but lost the baby late in the pregnancy before it could live outside the womb and then could not ever again conceive. Narcissa had married a man Arcturus truly hated from a despicable family and it was only after several miscarriages and one very bad still birth (the child had been horribly deformed) she finally managed to pop out the ONLY child she would ever have due to a difficult birth and two other almost lethal miscarriages after Draco's birth. At least she had tried and succeeded but the kid would be raised to be another Lucius/Cygnus.

Arcturus had been forced to investigate the "other side of the blanket" side of the family as well as going further back in their lineage to find a better candidate. Any candidate, even a healthy girl, would do for his purpose of saving the House of Black from extinction. Finally he had found them only to have them taken away. He could never claim them mostly due to the manipulations of Albus Dumbledore for one and the schemes of Lucius Malfoy. They must be working together for once to have things so tied up, so tightly controlled and impossible for even someone of his power and influence to take what was his.

In fact Lucius had even made subtle threats on his life. Actually Bellatrix had been his messenger and sent to see her dear Uncle Arcturus. In her irritating baby voice she informed Lord Black that Draco was the _**ONLY POSSIBLE HEIR**_ to inherit the Lordship so Arcturus had to make it not only official but do it now. After all, she had cooed nastily into his ear, he was so old and liable to die at any moment. In fact she could guarantee that he would soon be dying just by looking at him. "You don't want that blood traitor Sirius inheriting the Lordship do you?"

He had calmly replied that Sirius was not the heir but neither was Draco. She had then done the unthinkable, which could only mean that yes, she was totally insane. In the blink of an eye she had disarmed HER HOUSE LORD, taken his wand, bound him in magical chains and tried to compel him into agreeing to make Draco his heir.

"All you have to do is sign this paperwork with a blood quill. You don't even have to bother having a witness" she had again cooed into his ear. "I will take it to the Ministry for confirmation, then to Gringotts and then all will be well and you can die in peace after you go to Gringotts and make out a new Will. Well actually you only have to sign that as we have taken the liberty of making it out for you to save you the bother and what little time you have left. Then all will be prepared and ready so that you can die peacefully in your sleep. We can then have your funeral over and done with before the Yule holidays."

Since it was November 29th, that meant he really didn't have much longer to live but before he could spit out a reply she added, "Ooh is Uncley Artie (a nickname he hated and no one was allowed to call him but Bella had anyway) foolish enough to think that little Bellatrix has forgotten about the big, bad Lordship Ring that prevents Uncley Artey-farty from being compelled? Does Uncley Farty-face think I forgot? Well Ickle Bella hasn't and since Uncley Farty-Artey isn't cooperating and therefore doesn't want a quick and easy death Ickle Bella will have to MAKE HIM OBEY."

A Lordship Ring was a very powerful artifact in the Magical World. No one could take it off the finger of the Lord. Only he could take it off and usually once it was placed on his finger and he claimed and was accepted for the Lordship it stayed on his finger until his death. But Bella had "solved the problem" of its removal or at least she thought she had.

With a quick swish of her wand she cut off Arcturus' ring finger. The ring, still on the severed finger, fell to the floor while his finger bled out. Bellatrix was laughing hysterically so it took her a moment to accio the ring into her hand. Unfortunately for her she couldn't because although she believed she knew all about the Black Family laws, she didn't. She definitely didn't know anything about her Uncle Arcturus because from the moment she had invited herself into his private office, monitors had gone off and spells and precautions had fallen into place.

House elves had snuck in and stood behind her. Arcturus had trained them to wait until the right moment but the swiftness and audacity of the attack had taken them by surprise. They were in time to stun, bind and totally subdue the insane witch and while one elf went to fetch a healer, another went to the aid of his master and stopped the bleeding and put the finger in stasis.

Healer Gaffney was the personal healer to Lord Black and was under several oaths of allegiance and secrecy. He was one of the few non-family members allowed through the wards of all of the homes owned by Lord Black. Fortunately for all he was able to reattach the finger with Arcturus suffering no ill-effects after the administration of healing potions.

Bellatrix, however, was in a lot of trouble. An elf was sent to fetch the family solicitor and the current Head of the DMLE, Justus Pilliwickle and his assistant and probable successor Bartemius Crouch, Sr. After all had arrived, the recording runes placed in the office were activated and the shocking details were revealed. Pilliwickle was all for immediately arresting Bellatrix but Arcturus forbade it. His niece's arm was checked and there was the dark mark. It was decided that she could be used to apprehend other Death Eaters and maybe, with luck, lead them to Voldemort.

She was spelled into believing that she had successfully convinced her Uncle to make Draco his heir and that the paperwork was being done at the moment. As soon as Arcturus appeared in public to finalize everything and make the proper announcements, then he could "peacefully die in his sleep" as Bellatrix had promised.

All of the evidence was copied and sent to several places to make certain "it didn't mysteriously disappear" as things had a habit of doing at the Ministry. After Bellatrix was released and the DMLE people left, Arcturus changed the wards and made out a new, iron tight, tamper-proof Will. Ragnok, the President of Gringotts Britain was invited into Castle Black, advised of the situation and swore solemn oaths to aid Lord Black in his plans.

After that date Arcturus Black was never again seen in public. He rarely left Castle Black and only his solicitor, Healer Gaffney, Ragnok and his Cousin Cassiopeia were allowed passed the wards. You could only enter at one point and were then thoroughly checked by the house elves for spells, charms, enchantments, amulets, etc. to make certain you were really you and had not been compromised by anyone. A special ward was placed preventing any other house elves, even those sworn to Lord Black but belonging to Narcissa or Bellatrix from entering without being checked.

Arcturus was wise to take such precautions as soon afterwards the Potters and Longbottoms went into hiding. Then on October 31, 1981, it was said that Harry Potter had defeated Lord Voldemort but his parents had been lost. Arcturus' idiotic grandson was arrested and sent to Azkaban without a trial because it was said he had betrayed the Potters and had led Voldemort to the house they were living in. The house was under a Fidelius placed by Dumbledore himself but Sirius had been made the secret keeper and told Voldemort where to find them because the POTTERS HAD TO BE KILLED AND ONLY BY VOLDEMORT.

It was a well-known fact that Sirius Black was Harry Potter's godfather and adopted heir unless he sired his own child, therefore he could not possibly have betrayed the Potters as it would have been against his oath as a godfather if he had. How "convenient" that "everybody forgot" this well-publicized matter.

Dumbledore had immediately proclaimed Harry Potter the Boy-Who-Lived and, as it was rumored, using his power as Head of the Wizengamot he had first read then permanently sealed the Potters' Will and declared himself the boy's magical guardian. He then hid the child "for his own safety" and would allow NO ONE, be it Goblins, the few relatives James Potter had, definitely not the press and not even the Minister of Magic nor any Ministerial Departments involved in child welfare to know where the boy was nor could they or anybody contact Harry Potter.

Dumbledore had "everything under control" and would on occasion (but only when pressed) give an update on the boy, saying only that "He is healthy, happy, being brought up according to his station and heritage, is living in an excellent and loving environment and is receiving all the training necessary for the last Potter heir and the Boy-Who-Lived."

Then the boy had arrived at Hogwarts and anyone with eyes knew that it was all a lie. The boy knew NOTHING about the Magical World let alone his heritage and place in society. He didn't know he was even a wizard until Hagrid, the half-giant, the groundskeeper at Hogwarts took the boy to get his things in Diagon Alley.

Arcturus died in December of 1991, his solicitors still not able to contact the boy. They had to go through Dumbledore and Dumbledore was very choosy about who he let near the boy. Anything of a financial nature whether it was an endorsement offer, a bequest left to the boy in gratitude or the amazing amount of gifts monetary or personal, everything went through Dumbledore. There was a mail direction on the boy and everything went directly to Dumbledore. Only his Hogwarts letter(s) had been able to get through to the boy and there were rumors about that also.

However, Lord Seven now had custody of Harry Potter because the boy had somehow found out about "many things" and had found his way to Lord Black and the rest, as they say, was history.

Once Harry Potter was safe and totally out of the reach and control of Albus Dumbledore, Lord Seven could put his plans into operation.

Lord Arcturus' death had not been made public so not even his dear relatives (except for Cassiopeia) knew he had died until 1994 when Lucius had been tipped off by an informant. It was then thought that Sirius had indeed inherited the Lordship since the Malfoys hadn't been contacted. Since only Voldemort knew about Lord Seven Lucius saw his chance and took it. Lucius hadn't given up on getting the Lordship for Draco and had personally seen to it that Sirius Black had been killed despite Voldemort's direct order to bring him in for questioning. Instead he had raced to the Ministry and immediately tried to claim the Lordship for Draco.

He was quite surprised to finally be told that a new Lord Black had already claimed the Lordship in January 1992 and that Sirius Black had indeed been passed over and had never been anything other than Orion's heir and then a member in bad-standing of the Black Family. All he had was access to his parents' home and the money he had inherited from his Uncle Alphard. Lucius then spent as long as possible at the Ministry trying to think up an acceptable excuse to tell Voldemort.

By then this new Lord Black had ruined him, taking away his wife, their child, her dowry and calling in the full amount of the disastrous loan. However, if the very worse happened Lucius was prepared to empty his vaults, fake his death and flee to the other side of the world. Hopefully the call of the dark mark wouldn't get him in some place like India. He had heard there were parsel speakers in that land and hopefully one of them could remove the mark.

Severus had finally invented a potion that would lessen the pain of the dark mark if Voldemort summoned a Death Eater. It would still hurt like hell but hopefully it would be bearable enough that with pain potions and a great distance, Lucius could survive until the mark was removed. Now all he had to do was successfully escape – and that was easier said than done – as Lucius would soon find out.


	7. Chapter 7 - Freedom

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 7 – Freedom

Despite certain people still among the living, Seven had accomplished almost all he had set out to do. Dumbledore was a fugitive, but he had been stripped of all his titles, some of his dirty deeds had been revealed and Tom would make sure all of them (or at least the ones Tom knew about which was a lot) were exposed. Eventually Tom would get around to killing the old coot so Seven was content.

He had saved the Muggleborns and their parents if they choose to leave Britain. The Great Book of Hogwarts listing the names of all children born with Magic had been duplicated and was charmed to leave out any Muggleborns. Seven had the original Great Book so that new Muggleborns could be found, rescued and attend a school of their choice. If they had enough money to choose their own school, such as Beauxbatons and the other ones on the Continent or elsewhere in the world such as the Americas, they were contacted and given information. If they were penniless or had hostile parents, they were given a scholarship to the Freedom Academy of Magic.

That was where Hermione and the others rescued from Azkaban had been taken to. Seven had started his own school and like Darmstadt, its location would remain hidden even from those attending it. During his travels as a young man, Seven had found an old abandoned magical castle and its surrounding grounds. He legally claimed it and had started intensive renovations back in 1992. It was not as large as Hogwarts and had no giant squid in a lake as it had no lake but a river, but said river had a waterfall and there was certain part of the river where one could swim. Swimming would be one of the new sports the school would have, and like flying a broom, lessons would be mandatory.

Hogwarts had been huge because the Founders had hoped to teach all magicals in Europe but then the other schools were founded. Hogwarts had been added to over the first few centuries to accommodate the many students it did have and expected to have, but attendance had dropped off after the Great Plague of the Fourteenth Century, when so many died throughout the world, both Magical and Muggle. In Britain, there had been many Magical blood feuds and various Muggle wars which Magicals also participated in, so that by the time that the International Statute of Secrecy was established, Britain's Magical population had been cut in half.

When the Americas were discovered as well as Australia and other countries in the Pacific area, many Britons left the sacred shores to start a new life. There were also private schools established in Britain, mostly used by the affluent who wanted their daughters sheltered from the rift raff at Hogwarts. Many were too poor to attend Hogwarts and the charity fund only went so far and was originally used mainly for the sudden great influx of Muggleborns in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

Therefore, many students were home-schooled like Morfin and Merope Gaunt had been. Despite being one of the few known heirs of the Founders, their father Marvolo, had been kicked out of Hogwarts after fifth year due to receiving only three Acceptables and the rest were Trolls. He also had a "discipline problem" and it was doubtful he would survive sixth and seventh year. His children were not considered to attend Hogwarts, despite having some magic so they were taught at home by their mother until her untimely death.

However, once Dumbledore became Headmaster, he had all other schools in the British Isles closed and no one was allowed to be taught magic at home after the age of 11. You had to attend Hogwarts especially after the law to _Save the Future_ was passed by Dumbledore. Simply put, if you were born in Britain after January 1, 1978 you HAD TO ATTEND HOGWARTS even if your family moved out of the country. It was supposed to stop the mass of people who had fled the first Voldemortic War and keep British Magicals British and the population viable. In reality, Dumbledore had a second motive, namely, forcing Harry Potter to attend Hogwarts even if he had been rescued and was living in another country.

Hermione Granger never knew any of this despite having memorized Hogwarts, a History because the edition she owned had been severely shortened. At one time ALL Hogwarts history had been mentioned, including a record of anyone who had ever taught at the school, the Heads of House, the Deputy Heads and the Headmasters/mistresses. There had been one volume for each century until the mid-1800s when it was decided that _people didn't need to know_ _ **everything**_ _about Hogwarts_ , and to save money, or so it was said. A committee had been appointed to abridge all of the volumes into one large book.

However, the committee consisted of members who had scores to settle, ancestors who needed to be hidden, as well as the various scandals and other tidbits that "some people should never know about." In other words, a lot of very _**interesting**_ history and _**important information**_ was left out. Untruths were also added such as Salazar Slytherin hating Muggleborns, wanting them killed or at least not attending the school, etc. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were idolized while Slytherin was vilified and Hufflepuff was known as the House of Losers. In reality, Helga Hufflepuff and NEVER SAID "I'll take the rest" until the great revision took place. Needless to say (but I will) the committee was composed entirely of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws.

It is true that the "winners write the history books" or in this case those doing the revising slanted things their way and "invented" history to make Gryffindor/Ravenclaw look great, noble, intelligent and mighty and Slytherin/Hufflepuff seen as evil, worthless and the biggest of losers.

Seven had been truly shocked when he had stumbled on the pre-revision books, but after noticing some of the names on the committee, he was not surprised. He had also been horrified that once Dumbledore had become Headmaster, ¾ of the courses had been dropped from the syllabus as well as most of the extra-curricular activities. Quidditch was the only sport, Flitwick led the Frog Choir after the Music Department and Musical Magic courses had been dropped, McGonagall led the Chess Club, Sprout the Herbology Club and for some reason unknown to Seven, Snape was in charge of the Gobstones Club. Other than the Frog Choir and the Herbology Club (which Neville belonged to) Seven hadn't heard of any other activities except for Quidditch.

Seven had sworn that the Freedom Academy would be the school the Founders had envisioned. There would be more sports, clubs and definitely more courses offered and the school would give refuge to orphans and children whose parents were abusive. They would always have a safe and proper home at the Academy as soon as they were recognized and/or rescued. For those children, a comprehensive primary school would exist and would cover the basic and necessary Muggle studies such as science, math, literature, history, proper speech and writing courses, instruction in Latin and one other language and anything else that would be needed.

Some very necessary Muggle studies would be continued when the magical courses began at age 11 and at age 10, courses in the laws and customs of the Magical World would be taught the better to prepare them for life in both worlds.

Although there were some students at the school when the "Azkaban Refugees" arrived, the school wouldn't officially start until January 7, 1996 when more students and more teachers arrived. From January until June, students would be learning the laws and customs, have a complete physical which would include checking for spells, charms, hexes and potions which shouldn't be there, given any and all Muggle and Magical inoculations they needed, and being tested for just how much they really knew about Magic. All Azkaban Refugees would remain until they graduated and they wouldn't graduate until they were certified "fully and properly educated" which meant that the seven, six and even the fifth years might have more years added on to their education.

The Academy was dedicated to educational excellence and personal enrichment and once enrolled, no one would graduate until they had obtained the knowledge they needed to function properly in BOTH worlds.

The Azkaban Refugees had been happily shocked to find that they were not only free from Azkaban, the tyranny of the Ministry, the distain and insults of the Purebloods and as Hermione never ceased to remind them, the evil that was You-Know-Who. She was also POSITIVE that the saintly Professor Dumbledore had arranged for the rescue and the safe haven of a new school. "Who else could be responsible for all of this?" she had smugly stated.

Very few believed her but since they were told nothing other than they were safe, at a new school, needed testing, etc., no one said anything. They hadn't seen the cloaked man since they left the boat and the house elves that tended to them said nothing nor did Healer Crawford who gave them their physicals.

Finally, about a week after they arrived and had settled in, they were told that some of their questions would be answered. They were taken to a classroom and at the front of the room, a rather elegant lady greeted them, bade them to sit and not to ask any questions until after she finished the orientation. After taking attendance she introduced herself as Professor Cassiopeia. Before she could start a hand went up to get her attention and waved until the woman said "I told you not to ask questions until I was finished."

"But Professor, you didn't say if Cassiopeia was your first or last name" one guess who asked.

"That is not important at the moment, so be quiet and listen. If you raise your hand again until after I am finished you will be the first student in the history of this school to serve detention."

"Do you take points off also" came out of Hermione's mouth before she could stop herself. Since she realized she would get detention anyway she quickly added "Will we be sorted into houses? Will there be a House Cup like at Hogwarts? If one was a Prefect at Hogwarts will they be a Prefect here…."

She would have asked more at her usual rapid fire pace had not the Professor silenced her and bound her to the chair. Several students started applauding the Professor until she told them to stop.

The Professor gave them a brief outline of how the school would be working, the courses that would be offered, what the testing would consist of and several other things. She announced that she would be teaching the Laws and Customs of the Magical World and until school officially started in January, they would be getting a crash course in that, the rules of the school, which were still being written, tested for what they knew about the Magic and Mundane Worlds, and the words Muggle(s), Mudbloods, Half-breeds, Blood-traitors and Dumbledore were forbidden. Anyone saying any of those words would get a week's detention. She noticed Hermione's eyes bulging knowing she probably wanted to dispute receiving a detention for saying Dumbledore.

"Also, if you need to refer to You-Know-Who, just say 'Voldie' to save time."

"As some of you might wonder why saying Dumbledore's name is forbidden, you can read the latest copies of that disgusting excuse for a newspaper, _The Daily Prophet_ and see why. Then if you are still perplexed, you will be given an unauthorized biography of the $#* * & &*(&*& piece of *$ #*#& which will explain some of the reasons why. If you still don't understand and/or think it is all a pack of lies and that Albus Dumbledore is a living saint, Leader of the Light, True Force against Evil and Darkness, etc., then you are an idiotic fool, naïve to the point of stupidity no matter what your IQ is, or have been spelled, hexed, potioned, cursed and whatever and they haven't been removed yet."

She glared at Hermione, as did the other students, then took a deep breath to continue with her orientation.

"Freedom Academy of Magic was founded by Lord Seven. He is called that because he is a Lord of Seven Houses. Although he is not now, ever was or ever will be a disciple of Voldie, he does agree and support some of the things Voldie wanted before he went insane."

"They have a truce and a common enemy, namely, Albus Dumbledore. That miserable excuse for a human, let alone a wizard, is a true Dark Lord. He has used and abused many people over the years, led them to their deaths, destroyed families and has misused Magic for his own evil ends. He has severely abused both Voldie and Lord Seven, the latter of whom will spit on the ground whenever Dumbledore's name is mentioned. He will probably urge you to do the same" she added.

The students were dismissed after getting various handouts and Hermione was unbound but not unsilenced. As she was leaving the classroom Professor Cassiopeia said "No one is to ask me any questions as I have said all I need to say. You will be fitted for custom made wands next week so in the meantime behave yourselves."

The next few weeks went by fast and despite everyone getting their wands, no one would lift the silencing spell off of Hermione and she was unable to do it herself. She would find out later that it was her detention and she received a week for each questioned asked.

Finally it was Christmas or Yule as it was known at the Academy and had been at Hogwarts until Dumbledore declared that since Muggleborns were used to it being called Christmas, so it would be at Hogwarts and all of Magical Britain.

The Refugees had been fitted for new uniforms, which were the same as at Hogwarts except there was no over-robe. During the cold days the girls wore warm, woolen tights instead of stockings to keep warm. They were issued some Mundane casual clothing, coats, jackets, hoodies, etc. and everyone had two pair of shoes for school, one pair of trainers and one pair of winter boots for frolicking in the snow. They were all given a decent amount of underwear from the Mundane World as the Magical World just didn't do undies very well.

On Yule Eve, a great feast was held and the Refugees would finally be meeting the other students and younger ones, the teachers and, hopefully, the elusive Headmaster, or rather Lord Seven. As a Yule present, Hermione's detention was now over so she could finally ask questions – but not any of the teachers. There were many surprises starting with the appearance of people like Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and a few other students who were mainly Half-bloods but like Neville and Luna, there was the odd Pureblood. Hermione looked for Ron, Ginny and the Twins, but Neville said that they were not invited to attend the Academy due to certain traitorous actions and harm that they and/or their parents had committed.

Naturally Hermione gave her opinion about that until the usually polite and always a gentleman Neville simply said "Shut up, Hermione" and that was that.

After all students were present and accounted for, Professor Cassiopeia entered the "Grand Room" and began to talk. "There will be no questions asked, as if you let me finish" she said glaring at Hermione, "then all things _**you need to know at the moment**_ will be answered."

"Unfortunately, Lord Seven will not arrive until tomorrow morning. He will then explain the remainder of what you need to know, and HE WILL NOT BE INTERRUPTED UNTIL HE IS FINISHED. After the breakfast feast, you will be dismissed and have the rest of the day free and to ask any questions of the staff, except for me and Lord Seven."

"Of further note, each of you will be receiving a Yule/Christmas present, based on your profile, at the Yule/Christmas dinner feast, attendance of which is mandatory."

She then began to introduce the members of the staff and what they taught who were already present. She did it alphabetically starting with Professor Augustus Adams, who was teaching Mundane general science and biology; then the "former Hogwarts teacher, Bathsheba Babbling, teaching Ancient Runes; two other nonentities (because Hermione had never heard of them) until a smiling Filius Flitwick was introduced as the Charms Professor/Head of the Dueling Club and naturally he received a round of applause; three more nonentities were introduced before Pomona Sprout, the Herbology teacher, received more loud applause as did, Septima Vector, who would, of course, teach Arithmancy.

The staff who would be teaching Astronomy, Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures and most important in Hermione's opinion, the Librarian, were not mentioned so they would be coming tomorrow with the mysterious Lord Seven.

Naturally the feast was delicious and plentiful but not as plentiful as Hogwarts, in variety at least. Turkey, roast pork and flounder in a cheesy cream sauce were the entrees, with roasted potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce and an assortment of grilled vegetables as the sides. There were hot rolls and sliced French bread with butter and olive oil for spreads. Dessert consisted of butterscotch pudding with whipped cream (Luna's favorite), a mixed dish of oranges, blood oranges and grapefruit dotted with cherries and the choice of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or butter pecan ice cream.

The feast was good and filling and there was little waste or "just enough for the elves' dinner and a midnight snack or two" they were told by Professor Sprout. "Anything left over and the peelings are given to the livestock, the skin of any animal is sent out for tanning, fats are used for cooking where applicable and soap and cleaning products, bones not needed for soup are recycled, then used for fertilizer. Lord Seven wants the Academy to be 'green' as much as possible and extra credit will be given in Herbology for volunteers to help with the recycling" she stated proudly. "A club will be started once we have some volunteers and a proper name."

Everyone was content – except Hermione. She had so many questions to ask and wasn't allowed. Why hadn't Professor McGonagall come? Was she still faithful to Professor Dumbledore? Was she even alive or was she a fugitive because of her faithfulness. Was it the same with the other teachers and Hagrid? If this was such a new and wonderful school that would rival Hogwarts (not that any school could in her opinion), why weren't the Weasleys here?

The only answer her busy mind could come up with before she finally fell asleep was that they were all fighting Voldie and she hoped they were safe – and successful. She knew, she just knew that once Voldie and the Death Eaters were gone, the much slandered Headmaster Dumbledore would bring a new order to the Magical World, punish the guilty (starting with the traitorous Lord Seven the unmarked Death Eater) and once again Hogwarts would be the premier School of Magic.

Despite the attempt to remove all of the loyalty spells and potions placed on her by old Dumbles, they couldn't get all of them. When he had the illegal heritage test done on the girl, as he did with all brilliant and talented Muggleborns, such as Lily Evans and Tom Riddle, Dumbles had been pleasantly surprised to find out something about Hermione Granger, or rather her mother, that fitted into his plans very nicely. The girl was his and always would be until the death of one of them – and it wouldn't be his.

NOTE: I can end this story with one more chapter and leave a lot of loose ends or I can end it now and do a sequel. A sequel won't be written until I finish some of my other stories first as I have had complaints that I should finish what I started before writing something new. I am putting this to a vote, so please respond. Meanwhile I will endeavor to finish the other stories. Thank you.


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